Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Don’t tell Nigel... 3 more yrs till Brexit
May plans EU deal by Wednesday
THERESA May is within a whisker of getting a historic EU deal on Wednesday in time for a crunch vote by MPs next month.
But if she pulls it off at the European Council summit in Brussels it will tie us to Europe for three more years.
That will infuriate Tory Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who will accuse her of selling out.
And it will stop International Trade Secretary Liam Fox from concluding any lucrative overseas deals.
Mrs May will present her plan to the Cabinet on Tuesday.
Brexiteers Andrea Leadsom and Penny Mordaunt are expected to stay, but the PM fears Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey might resign.
BUGBEAR
Mrs May’s Brexit guru Olly Robbins is in Brussels today trying to persuade EU partners to accept our new offer.
The PM is prepared to keep us in the EU customs union till Christmas 2021 – but hopes to pull out earlier.
That will keep a frictionless border between north and south in Ireland – the biggest bugbear of the talks.
But Mr Rees-Mogg said the customs union idea must be “binned”.
The exit agreement is 85 per cent done and a trading framework looks hopeful. If a deal is agreed, i’s will be dotted and t’s crossed at a further summit so that MPs can vote on it in November.
The EU proposes keeping Northern Ireland in a customs union, but that was rejected by Mrs May and the DUP, which is propping up her government. DUP leader Arlene Foster said: “The UK is one nation. There should not be international-style borders within it.”
A No10 insider said: “There must be a UK-wide solution. The PM will not accept carving off part of the UK for political expediency.”
The EU’s chief Brexit negoti- ator Michel Barnier will tell Mrs May he is prepared to extend transition to December 31, 2021.
She will push for an earlier date – but their both accepting the same cut-off is the most positive sign yet. A source said: “The PM would never trap the UK in a backstop permanently.”
If Wednesday’s talks fail then Britain will face a disastrous no-deal Brexit.