Brexit minister hints UK could soften stance

Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay suggested on Sunday that Britain was open to compromise with the EU over new UK proposals for Northern Ireland, but urged Brussels to show creativity and flexibility.

Barclay reiterated Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s latest plans for a managed withdrawal from the bloc on October 31 were “a broad landing zone ahead of intense negotiations in the coming days”.

“We need to get into the intensive negotiations . . . to clarify what the deal is,” Barclay told the BBC.

“We’ve set out very serious proposals, including compromise on our side.

“We now need to see creativity and flexibility on the EU side in order to reach that deal.” But the EU has reacted tepidly to the plans and urged London to offer a revised, viable way forward.

Crunch talks will resume on Monday, with time running out ahead of a crucial EU summit on October 17-18.

“If the offer from the UK turns out to be a take-it-orleave-it, it’s going to be very difficult I see in agreeing,” Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins told the BBC on Sunday.

“It’s fully dependent on the will of Mr Johnson because . . . we’re always open and looking towards a deal.”

The proposals centre on how to manage the post-Brexit border between UK province Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

Johnson wants Northern Ireland’s currently suspended devolved assembly to vote every four years on whether to maintain EU rather than British regulations there.

He has also proposed the province leaves the EU’s customs union along with the rest of Britain, with required checks to rely on untried technology and carried out away from the sensitive border. –