BREXIT COUNTDOWN DAYS TO GO

Solve ruck of the Irish and everthing else falls into place

THE thorny problem of the Irish border should be Theresa May’s top Brexit priority according to only 7% of us, a Sunday Mirror/ComRes poll says.

Yet if the PM can get that right at the European Council summit on Thursday, the rest of Brexit begins to fall into place. That’s because whatever deal she strikes to keep the border open will have to apply to the rest of the UK.

Britain rejected EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier’s potty plan to redraw the border in the Irish Sea. That could cause renewed bloodshed in Northern Ireland because it would put it under EU not British law, the issue which divided Ireland for centuries. A Commons Brexit Committee MP said: “By that logic the Irish Republic should align itself with Britain and America where it does 80 per cent of its trade.”

Jeremy Corbyn suggests a customs union, but Mrs May has cold-shouldered that, too.

Her fallback now is Northern Ireland adopting EU internal market and customs union rules – what Whitehall calls “specific solutions to the unique circumstances of the island of Ireland”.

Trouble is, those who are involved in Brexit negotiations both in the UK and EU are not sure how that could work. Mrs May is fond of saying: “Let me be clear...” She’ll need to be a lot clearer about what she means with our EU partners on Thursday.

One Donald is urging another to duck steel tariffs to avoid a transatlantic trade war. EU President Donald Tusk told US President Donald Trump: “We started US trade negotiations a few years ago. We should go back to talks now.”

Ireland is Theresa May’s biggest headache. Solve that, says Political Editor NIGEL NELSON and she solves Brexit

STICKING POINT Ulster border sign