The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Arguments over Irish Brexit border rage on
Dublin government voices fears there will be a ‘hard border’ Talks:
Downing Street has backed away from suggestions Northern Ireland’s continued membership of the EU customs union could be up for negotiation in Brexit talks.
Theresa May is coming under intense pressure from Dublin for fresh assurances there will be no “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar warned the deadlock in Brexit negotiations cannot be broken until the issue is resolved.
A Number 10 spokesman told reporters yesterday the UK continued to look for “an innovative way forward” on the issue.
Asked whether Northern Ireland could remain in the customs union
“What we don’t want to see is any perception that Northern Ireland is in anyway different from the rest of the UK. ARLENE FOSTER, DUP
following Brexit, the spokesman said: “That is a matter for negotiations.”
However, a Downing Street source later insisted the Government’s position that the whole of the UK will leave both the customs union and single market after Brexit has not changed.
Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said yesterday it was difficult to see how border checks could be avoided if the UK’S departure from the customs union and single market resulted in “regulatory divergence” between the North and the Republic.
Mr Varadkar has previously suggested a “bespoke” arrangement, similar to that operated on the Isle of Man, under which Northern Ireland, or the whole of the UK, would continue to observe the rules of the single market and customs union without necessarily remaining a member of them.
However, Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster warned: “What we don’t want to see is any perception that Northern Ireland is in any way different from the rest of the UK, because that will cause us great difficulties in relation to trade. The single market that really matters to us is the single market of the United Kingdom.”