May insists ‘no hard border’, but keeps it vague – again

BRITISH prime minister Theresa May has said the UK wants a bespoke arrangement with the EU once it leaves the bloc next year, but offered no fresh insight into what her government might offer to clinch a deal with Brussels in the coming months.

Speaking after a meeting with Angela Merkel in Berlin, Mrs May insisted there would be no return to a ‘hard border’ in Ireland, and that there were various ways the issue could be addressed.

‘The Irish Government, the UK government and the people of Northern Ireland were all clear there would be no hard border,’ she said. ‘As the Taoiseach said on Monday, the preference is for the arrangement to be part of the overall agreement that the UK will have with the EU.

‘That is looking at that new partnership where there will be a new balance of rights and obligations that we will be discussing through the next stage of the negotiations.’

Mrs May stressed the importance of economic ties between Britain and Germany – which she said secure and generate hundreds of thousands of jobs in both countries. ‘I want to ensure UK companies have the maximum freedom to trade and operate within German markets and for German businesses to do the same in the UK,’ she said.

Concern has been growing among European business leaders that Britain’s exit from the EU will be far from seamless, causing considerable disruption to companies on both sides of the Channel.

‘What we’re looking at is, I believe, a comprehensive and ambitious partnership. One that isn’t based on an existing model,’ Mrs May said, without elaborating.

Mrs Merkel, meanwhile, said she is ‘curious’ about the UK’s approach to Brexit after her talks with Mrs May.

The German chancellor insisted she was not ‘frustrated’ by the lack of detail in the UK’s position on the future relationship it wants with the EU, but that she wanted to know more about Mrs May’s plan.

Mrs May, speaking alongside Mrs Merkel in Berlin, said she wanted a ‘bold and ambitious partnership’, but that it was not a ‘one-way street’.

Mrs Merkel said there could still be a close relationship and that ‘this does not mean that it needs to be cherry-picking’.

She said: ‘We basically have not changed our stance on Britain leaving the European Union.

‘We deplore it, but we want to adopt a constructive position because we want to have as close as possible partnership with Britain even after leaving the European Union, both economically and politically.’

She added that the Brexit deal needed to strike a ‘fair balance’ but would be different to the full benefits of membership of the Single Market.