May lands last-ditch Brexit deal
Divorce bill of up to £39 billion, frictionless Irish border and protection of EU nationals at heart of breakthrough agreement
Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday secured a last minute Brexit deal that will see the UK pay a divorce bill of up to £39 billion and allow negotiations to move to the next phase. The breakthrough also included a guarantee that there would be no hard Irish border.
Theresa May yesterday secured a last minute Brexit deal that will see the UK pay a divorce bill of up to £39 billion and allow negotiations to move to the next stage.
The breakthrough, which included a guarantee that there would be no hard Irish border, came after Mrs May and Brexit Secretary David Davis flew to Brussels for a breakfast meeting with Commission President Jeanclaude Juncker.
The deal, which was backed by Brexiteer Tories Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, also promised that the rights of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU would be protected.
The agreement came at the end of a frantic week which saw Brexit process thrown into disarray when the Democratic Unionist Party objected to suggestions that Northern Ireland would be kept in line with EU regulations and given special status apart from Britain.
The DUP were brought back on side with a guarantee of a frictionless Irish border and a commitment not to build barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The document said that if agreement could not be reached on the Irish border, “the United Kingdom will ensure that no new regulatory barriers develop between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom” unless consistent with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and were agreed by the Stormont Assembly.
The form of words, agreed after late night phone calls between Mrs May and DUP leader Arlene Foster, was enough to move the process to the next stage. But there is still much work to be done on how that commitment can be squared with leaving the single market and customs union.
Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the guarantee on the Irish border but sparked a row when she linked the arrangement to Scottish independence.
The First Minister tweeted: “A government that is able to say that come what may, it will avoid hard borders with Ireland/ni after Brexit can never again tell Scotland that independence would mean a hard border with Scotland and RUK.”
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson replied on twitter saying: “And... here we go. Right on time Nicola Sturgeon uses any Brexit development to bang the indy drum. Could set your watch by it. Give it a rest.”
The breakthrough was hailed by the Prime Minister as “a hard-won agreement in all our interests”.
Commission president Jean-claude Juncker said it represented “sufficient progress” for negotiations to move on to their second phase, subject to approval by leaders of the remaining 27 EU states at a summit on December next week..
In dramatic pre-dawn scenes, Mrs May and Brexit Secretary David Davis flew to Brussels to confirm with Mr Juncker over breakfast the text of a joint document setting out proposals on the key withdrawal issues of citizens’ rights, the Irish border and Britain’s exit bill.
But the scene was set for further wrangling, as European Council president Donald Tusk set out guidelines for the next phase of talks, covering the transition to a post-brexit relationship, which envisage the UK staying in the single market and customs union and observing all EU laws for around two years after the official withdrawal date in March 2019.
He said only “exploratory talks” on a free trade agreement could begin at this stage, with the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier suggesting that “real negotiations” on trade would get under way once a withdrawal treaty is finalised in October.
There was consternation among some Brexit-backers over provisions allowing the European Court of Justice a role in overseeing EU citizens’ rights in the UK for eight years after Brexit.
However, Downing Street said they only expected around two or three cases a year to be referred voluntarily by UK judges to the Luxembourg court.
Jeremy Corbyn said Mrs May had only managed to “scrape through” the first phase of Brexit negotiations some 18 months after the referendum.