Irish border question is being used as an excuse to thwart Brexit, says DUP

Westminster leader rejects claims that Britain needs to stay in the customs union as ‘misconceived’

THE Irish border issue is being used as an “excuse” to thwart Brexit, the DUP’S Westminster leader has warned.

Nigel Dodds said critics who claim that Britain must stay in the customs union to retain an open border are “misconceived”. He told Peston on Sunday on ITV1: “Some people who are now using the excuse that because of the Northern Ireland open border situation, because of the need to avoid a hard border, because of the protection of the Belfast agreement, that somehow this all demands certain things like membership of the customs union.

“That is totally misconceived, they’re actually using the Belfast agreement to advance their own version of Brexit or indeed in some cases to actually thwart Brexit.

“The issue of Northern Ireland where we want an open border with the Irish Republic but we’re also very clear that there can be no border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom economically or politically and I think in terms of a customs union it is very clear... that you do not require membership of the customs union to preserve a frictionless border in Ireland.”

Mr Dodds, the DUP deputy leader, highlighted the fact there are already different currencies and tax regimes operating on either side of the border.

He said: “We already have currency differences, a different current in Northern Ireland to the Republic, there are different tax regimes, VAT regimes.

“The idea somehow that this will provide such a massive barrier, that it will not allow trade to continue is nonsense, it can be done. The solutions are out there, some people don’t want to look at those solutions because they’re trying to force a political solution to keep the UK inside the customs union or using Northern Ireland in a way that is not conducive to good, good peace in Northern Ireland.”

It comes amid an ongoing crisis in Northern Ireland following the collapse of the power-sharing agreement. Mr Dodds said that budget needs to be set for Northern next two weeks.

Meanwhile, Theresa May’s deputy will warn Brexit must not be used as an excuse to break up the United Kingdom. In the latest of the Government’s Road to Brexit speeches, David Lidington will call for the UK to pull together.

Speaking at Airbus in North Wales, the Cabinet Office Minister is expected to say: “We as a country are at a crossroads in our history. We face a choice: a choice that represents the difference between a prosperous, secure nation that is united at home and stronger abroad, and a poorer country that is divided at home and a weaker player on the global stage.”

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, has been a vocal critic of the way the devolved administrations have been treated during Britain’s exit from the European Union. SNP ministers at Holyrood refused to put forward Westminster Brexit legislation for consent votes in protest over how powers would be brought back from Brussels.

Mr Lidington will insist the Government has made a “considerable offer” to commit to sending the vast majority of powers being brought back from the EU to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. Ireland within the