Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DUP sink Barnier’s proposal as ‘border down the Irish Sea’
Fury at EU plan for checks Summit pressure for May
THE DUP yesterday poured cold water on a European Union offer of compromise on its proposals for the border after Brexit.
Chief negotiator Michel Barnier suggested arrangements could be made to conduct the majority of checks on imports and exports away from the boundary itself.
He warned time was running out, with the “moment of truth” coming at the next full EU summit in Brussels on October 18, when it would become clear whether an agreement was “in our grasp”.
But the DUP, which props up Theresa May’s minority administration in Parliament, dismissed the proposals as unpalatable, because they would involve a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
Deputy leader Nigel Dodds said: “It still means a border down the Irish Sea although with different kinds of checks.
“The fact is both Theresa
May and the Labour Party have said no British prime minister could accept such a concept. It is not just unionists who object.”
Former shadow Secretary of State Owen Smith, a backer of the Best for Britain campaign for a second EU referendum, said Mr Dodds’ response had “sunk Barnier’s improved offer on Northern Ireland before he has even floated it”. Yesterday’s gathering in Salzburg was the first time EU leaders have met since Mrs May published her Chequers blueprint for Brexit in July.
It comes as supporters of a second referendum publish a blueprint setting out how MPS could force the Prime Minister to accept what they call a People’s Vote on her deal, with the option of remaining in the EU.
Despite Mrs May insisting the choice was between her deal or no deal, Treasury minister Mel Stride appeared to suggest a second poll was still a possibility.
Mr Stride told Sky News: “When we have a firm deal on the table, I suspect that those to the right of the party – the pro-brexit wing – will be very concerned that if that deal does not prevail, they will end up in the situation where we could have a second referendum or we could end up not leaving the EU altogether, so there is a danger of that happening if Chequers does not prevail.”
Mrs May is due to set out her plan at the summit in Austria and explain why Brussels should show flexibility.
She told a German newspaper the Chequers blueprint – a “common rule book” for trade in goods and “business-friendly facilitated customs arrangement” – is the only way to resolve the issue of the border.