Irish threaten to block UK’S transition plans

Ireland accuses Britain of ‘delusion’ and escalates row over customs union by warning it may use veto

IRELAND has threatened to block Britain’s plans for a two-year transition period after Brexit amid a furious row over customs arrangements.

Phil Hogan, Ireland’s European Union commissioner, said that Ireland could be the “biggest victim of this mess” and accused the UK of “highlevel delusion”.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, has called for Britain to stay in the customs union and warned that unless it does there could be a new border in the Irish Sea.

However, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, and Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, made clear in a joint article this weekend that Britain will leave the customs union and single market after Brexit in March 2019.

The Government will tomorrow publish a position paper suggesting that ministers will stick to their plan for a “light touch” customs border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. In a significant escalation of the row Mr Hogan, speaking to the Financial Times, suggested that Britain cannot take for granted that the EU will agree to a transition period.

He said: “I think there’s a high level of delusion in London at the moment about what is required to be done.

“But if there is an appetite for a pragmatic and reasonable outcome to a free-trade agreement, well then membership of the customs union would make a significant contribution to this.

“I’m very concerned about the Irish question. Ireland is probably the biggest victim of this mess.” He added that ministers “still don’t realise that the other 27 [member states] have to agree to this transition period of two or three years or whatever they’re going to be seeking”.

He said: “We have to see, will it be fruitful?”

An Irish government source confirmed that it was prepared to use the “nuclear option” of vetoing the transition period if it does not reach a successful resolution on customs arrangements.

David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, has acknowledged that the dispute is likely to be “problematic” as he called for “invisible” customs checks. However, Brexit negotiators are increasingly confident that Brussels will support Britain over the dispute.

In Edinburgh, Mr Davis said that he expects an agreement over the free movement of people between Ireland and Northern Ireland will be “straightforward”.

He said: “I was sitting next to an Irish banker at a dinner of financial services, and he said what am I going to do? How am I going to be able to travel between Britain and Ireland.

“I said the same way you have been doing since 1923 when the Common Travel Area was established. That bit ought to be very straightforward. The bit that’s more problematic is making the border invisible in the way that it is now.”

The future of Northern Ireland is one of three issues that the EU has said must be resolved before discussions on the future of Britain’s relationship with the EU can take place.

The other two are that “sufficient progress” is made on the Brexit divorce bill and the rights of migrants before further discussions.

British negotiators fear that this will mean that there is not enough time to settle the issue of the UK’S future trading relationship with the EU before Brexit.