Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MRS SOFTEE
Theres a may’s Europe deal will mean soft border Britain to pay EU divorce bill of up to £39BILLION PM abandons ‘red lines’ after DUP stand-off
BRITAIN moved closer to a soft Brexit after Theresa May made concessions with the DUP to break the deadlock.
Trade talks will start in days. EU chiefs hailed the PM’S “breakthrough”, but critics labelled her
“lily-livered”.
A BREXIT breakthrough yesterday left the leaders of Northern Ireland’s two largest parties urging a cautious welcome.
As news broke of the breakfast time deal, the DUP’S Arlene Foster said “substantial positive progress” had been made, but added “there is still more work to be done to improve the paper”. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams gave a “cautious and qualified welcome” to news there would be no hard border on the island.
But he added: “Our experience through years of agreements with Britain is that the devil is in the detail.
“Brexit is the greatest threat to the economies of this island in generations. Today’s communique does not set the final deal on Brexit.
“The communique sets out broad principles. These have been assessed by the Irish government as sufficient progress to allow the Brexit process to move into the next phase of negotiations on trade.
“While the communique recognises the unique and special circumstances surrounding the issue of the Irish peace process, the Good Friday Agreement and the border, it does not address key areas of concern for many citizens, especially nationalists living in the North and citizens in the border region. The insistence by the British that Britain and the North must leave the customs union and the single market presents a real and live danger which cannot be understated.”
And in an indication the party does not think the border issue has been completely sorted, they are planning a “demonstration in support of special status for the North within the EU and against the imposition of an EU frontier in Ireland” today at the Derry/ Donegal border at Bridgend. Sinn Fein revealed the gathering “is part of a series of demonstrations which will be held along the border and across the North”.
Earlier, Mrs Foster said: “Throughout this process our guiding principle has been to act in the national interest to ensure the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom is not compromised as we leave the European Union.
“The Democratic Unionist Party has always been clear the Union that matters most to Northern Ireland is that of the Union of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland. As a consequence of the engagement between the Government and our team, substantial positive progress has been made on improving the text of Monday’s original draft paper.”
However, the deal drew harsh criticism from TUV leader Jim Allister who said he was “struck by the imbalance in commitments it contains”.
He added: “It is largely one-way traffic with the focus on UK commitments.
“The default position, if there is no UK/EU trade deal, is wholly prejudicial to Northern Ireland’s complete leaving of the EU.
“This default position, if there is no deal, leaves us entrapped within the EU’S single market and customs union on an unspecified, but clearly extensive, range of issues, whereas the rest of the UK would be liberated from such.”
The agreement to move to phase two came after there was a guarantee offered of no “hard border” with Ireland and the rights of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU will be protected.
Downing Street said the so-called “divorce bill” will amount to between £35billion and £39billion.
European Commission president Jeanclaude Juncker described it as a “breakthrough” and added he was confident EU leaders will approve the deal. They are due to meet on Thursday for a European Council summit and need to give their backing if the next phase of negotiations is to begin.
Prime Minister Theresa May hailed the deal as “a hard-won agreement in all our interests”.
The compromise on the Irish border – forged in intensive talks late on Thursday night – states that if no trade deal is reached, the UK as a whole will maintain “full alignment” with elements of the EU single market and customs union which support the economy of the island of Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement.
It specified “no new regulatory barriers” will be allowed between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and that the region’s businesses will continue to have “unfettered access” to the UK internal market.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it was a “significant day” for Ireland, which “achieved all that we set out to achieve in phase one of these negotiations”.
He described assurances outlined in the agreed text as “politically bulletproof ”, adding: “We have protected what we sought to protect and we achieved what we sought to achieve.”
In regard to the ratification of a potential final Brexit deal, the Fine Gael leader said he did not think it would require an Irish referendum.