Ireland says UK must keep single market ties
BRITAIN will need to follow many of the rules of the single market as well as remaining tied to the customs union after Brexit, the Irish premier warned yesterday after holding talks with Theresa May.
Leo Varadkar said Britain must remain aligned with the European Union long after Brexit to avoid the return of a hard border in Ireland, in a move that raises fears about the UK’S ability to make a clean break from Europe.
The Taoiseach said he had been given a fresh “insight” into the Prime Minister’s plans for a post-brexit customs arrangement with the EU, adding that he was “not discouraged” by what he heard during the meeting.
His comments will raise fears among Brexiteers that Britain could remain shackled to the EU, with the Cabinet still divided over the country’s future trading relationship with Europe.
It comes after The Daily Telegraph disclosed that the Prime Minister’s Brexit war cabinet had agreed Britain would remain tied to the customs union beyond 2021 if trade negotiations had failed to avoid a hard border in Ireland.
The Irish government has demanded a legally binding “backstop” that kicks in if Britain is unable to implement new customs arrangements when the Brexit transition period ends on Dec 31 2020.
Mrs May said yesterday that Britain would operate an “independent trade policy” after the transition period ended, with sources insisting that the country would be able to strike deals in services and bilateral investments.
However, Whitehall sources also said that if the backstop took effect, the UK would be able to negotiate and sign, but not implement trade deals. While welcoming the apparent British softening towards the backstop, Mr Varadkar added that creating a frictionless border required “more than just customs”.
“The Prime Minister gave me an insight into some new thinking the UK Government has in relation to customs. We haven’t been able to get any detail on that yet but certainly any move on customs that brings the UK closer to the EU is to be welcomed.
“But I very much emphasised that resolving the issue of avoiding a hard border requires more than just customs. It would help solve some of the problems related to the border but not all of them.”
The prospect of remaining aligned with Europe alarmed Brexiteers.
Jacob Rees-mogg said that if Mrs May agreed to what Mr Varadkar appeared to be proposing, it would be “a failure” of her policy of making Brexit mean Brexit. “She would have to eat a very large quantity of her own words. I have trust in the Prime Minister and I believe that this will not happen,” he said.
Sammy Wilson, an MP from the DUP, said the decision on the backstop was a “grave disappointment”, and urged Mrs May to face down European negotiators and demand they accept technology could fix the border issue.
“I don’t believe it is necessary to stay in beyond that period [2021],” he told
The Telegraph’s Chopper’s Brexit Podcast. “In doing so the Prime Minister shows weakness to EU negotiators. When the PM has stuck her heels in, they changed the agreement.”