Irish threat puts UK in ‘impossible situation’
FORMER Conservative Party leader William Hague has warned the Irish Government not to place the UK in an “impossible situation” by insisting Northern Ireland remains in the EU customs union and single market.
He said the British and Irish governments appear to be on a collision course ahead of next month’s crucial EU summit on Brexit, with “potentially disastrous consequences for the last chance to manage Brexit at all smoothly, and for relations between the two countries”.
Writing in the ‘Daily Telegraph’, Mr Hague said while it was “reasonable for the Government and people of the Irish Republic to feel pretty cross about the situation they are landed in by Brexit”, he said the Irish Government was now threatening to prevent any deal being hammered out.
“Complicating matters is Ireland’s political crisis, which could produce the fall of the minority Government this week. But even if that happens, the incumbent ministers will still be dealing with this issue, and they should appreciate a key rule of negotiating successfully: do not place your counterpart in an impossible position. Making such a radical demand of the UK government is doing exactly that.
“It is not something that I could imagine either this or any previous government, Labour or Conservative, being able to agree to. This is partly because it would never be acceptable to the unionist community in Northern Ireland, since it would damage the UK’s