Does Boris’s backstop plan mean he’ll sell out Ulster?
PM wants all-Ireland farming zone – but DUP warn he must not keep them tied to EU
BORIS Johnson is set to embark on a diplomatic blitz across Europe in an attempt to agree a fresh compromise on the controversial Brexit backstop.
The Prime Minister yesterday predicted he was ‘going to get a deal’ as he revealed he would visit a string of European capitals armed with new proposals in the coming weeks.
The move came as the EU’s new trade commissioner stoked speculation that Mr Johnson is exploring moves that could leave Northern Ireland closely aligned to the EU while the rest of the UK makes a clean break.
Irishman Phil Hogan said there was ‘movement happening on both sides’ in the Brexit talks after Mr Johnson revealed he was ready to look at an all-Ireland solution to some issues, including agriculture.
The Government’s confidence and supply partners in the DUP are understood to be receptive to an all- Irish agricultural zone, which would allow livestock and agricultural goods to move freely across the border.
But the idea of creating other regulatory differences between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK has prompted a warning from the DUP, which has vowed to resist any move to impose any variation in trade tariffs.
The DUP’s chief whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said any deal which created a trade border down the Irish Sea was a ‘non-runner’ and the idea of a Northern Ireland-only backstop would undermine the Good Friday Agreement. Mr Donaldson added: ‘The solution to avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland is not to create a second border in the Irish Sea because I think that would be deeply destabilising.’
The PM’s official spokesman denied that Mr Johnson was looking to return to the EU’s original proposal for a Northern Ireland specific backstop, which was rejected by Theresa May.
The backstop is designed to prevent the re-emergence of a hard border across Ireland. Under Mrs May’s plan, it would have left the whole of the UK tied to the customs union until ‘ alternative
‘Deeply destabilising’
arrangements’ could be identified.
DUP leader Arlene Foster, who held talks with Mr Johnson in Number 10, last night said he had ‘confirmed his rejection of a Northern Ireland-only backstop’.
She warned that any deal which did not have the support of both communities in the Province was ‘doomed to failure’.
Officials confirmed Mr Johnson was exploring potential compromise options. These include leaving Northern Ireland aligned with EU regulations on food and farming, potentially reducing border issues. But No 10 is still pushing for ‘alternative arrangements’ to deal with border issues on trade in goods. It also wants a mechanism that would give Northern Ireland’s power- sharing assembly in Stormont a say on the process. In an upbeat assessment, the PM said: ‘We are working very hard to get a deal – I think we will get a deal.’
Speaking to children during a visit to promote the expansion of the free schools network, he said: ‘I am going to go to Brussels and back to some other European capitals fairly soon to talk to them. I think there is a way of getting a deal, but it will take a lot of hard work.’ Mr Johnson dismissed opposition claims that his decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks was anti-democratic, telling reporters: ‘Donnez-moi un break’ – cod-French for ‘give me a break’.
Mr Hogan claimed the ‘penny is finally dropping’, with Mr Johnson by suggesting Downing Street is softening its demands that the border backstop be ‘abolished’. He added: ‘ Johnson has made a proposal... talking about an allIreland food zone. That is certainly a clear indication of divergence between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the EU and the rest of the UK... If we can build on that, we certainly might get closer to one another in terms of a possible outcome.’
New EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen yesterday warned Mr Johnson faces the
Taxes and matters were made worse by Mr Hogan saying: ‘You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.’ He was also embroiled in an ugly row when a former aide to the Irish premier warned him not to ‘screw’ property owners and he replied: ‘I have no problem screwing you. Hasn’t [your husband] been screwing you for years?’
Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘He is clearly a deeply arrogant man. Someone needs to remind him that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.’
Mr Hogan has shrugged off criticism, saying: ‘Hopefully I don’t upset too many people and my British friends. But I nevertheless like to tell them what I believe to be the whole truth.’