Irish border problem ‘put on ice to help Brexit deal’

The decision was delayed until after MPs vote on customs union for UK.
Brexit: Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Theresa May
PA Wire/PA Images
Sarah Collins16 March 2018
WEST END FINAL

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EU and UK negotiators today closed in on a Brexit transition deal by postponing a deadline for a solution to the Irish border impasse.

Several sources told the Standard that a decision has been taken that the border argument cannot be allowed to derail agreement at next week’s EU summit of an implementation period until the end of 2020.

The issue has been effectively parked until the bloc’s next summit in June, which means the Commons has a chance to vote first on whether Britain will stay in the customs union.

“There will not be a breakthrough now on Ireland [at the summit],” said one EU official close to the talks.

A series of intensive three-way talks among EU, UK and Irish officials will take place in the next four weeks. But there are moves at Westminster to settle the issue by voting to instruct Theresa May to seek to continue membership of the customs union, which would render border controls unnecessary.

Next week’s summit is due to agree on the 21-month transition period, giving business more time to adapt to changes, and to launch discussions on trade and future relations.

Irish officials insist that the border issue has not been sidelined.

The Commons Northern Ireland affairs committee has expressed concerns about the lack of progress on solutions for the border. In a report, the committee said there are no “technical solutions, anywhere in the world, beyond the aspirational” that would avoid the need for infrastructure at the border post-Brexit.

Talks between EU and UK officials on a draft exit treaty are to continue today and over the weekend. One source said negotiators were “tinkering with words” to mask “hard fact that the UK has to be a rule taker” until December 2020, when the transition is due to end.

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