Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAY TO DEMAND BORDER CHECKS
PM customs stance will anger Taoiseach
THERESA May will set herself on a collision course with Leo Varadkar by demanding customs checks at the Irish border.
The Prime Minister’s announcement is expected this week when the Government unveils a number of key position papers on the Brexit negotiating strategy.
A source inside the Department for Exiting the European Union said the Taoiseach’s hardline stance wouldn’t survive the negotiations.
They added: “If Leo Varadkar got his way Ireland would be poorer, Britain would be poorer and Varadkar would be on the hook for it – I can’t see his position going the distance.”
It is understood Mrs May will toughen her position on the border with computer systems designed to minimise disturbance to trade.
But her stance will anger the Irish Government, which has said it will reject any customs border on the island.
In a speech in Belfast last month, Mr Varadkar said Mrs May should abandon her hard Brexit policy which would make a border necessary.
In recent weeks he went public with his frustration over Britain’s failure to come up with workable proposals in the 14 months since last year’s EU referendum. Brussels has insisted sufficient progress must be made on Northern Ireland, citizens’ rights and the so-called divorce bill before the negotiations can move forward.
But in the first sign of a more bold UK strategy Mrs May is expected to tell Brussels the border issue can only be resolved once the future trading relationship with the EU is known.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said: “Over the last year the Government has been working with British businesses and the British people to establish exactly how our new relationship with the EU should look and feel.
“And over the coming weeks we’ll advance that thinking with a swathe of new future partnership papers.
“I’ve launched this process because with time of the essence we need to get on with negotiating the bigger issues around our future partnership to ensure we get a deal that delivers a strong UK and a strong EU.”