Customs union back in play as EU rejects UK government’s Irish border proposals
The UK may have to remain in the customs union in some form, after EU officials rejected the UK’s proposal for avoiding a hard border in Ireland.
According to The Telegraph, the government’s proposal suffered a “systematic and forensic annihilation” this week at a meeting between senior EU officials including Michel Barnier’s number two Sabine Weyand and Olly Robbins, the UK’s lead Brexit negotiator.
“It was a detailed and forensic rebuttal,” the source told the paper. “It was made clear that none of the UK’s customs options will work. None of them.”
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A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the EU told Reuters today: “We have been clear that we will protect Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market.”
The clock is ticking, with both sides needing to nail down a solution in a matter of weeks if the final deal is to be reached by October, when it must be put to EU and UK parliaments. Any later than that would risk crashing out of the EU without a deal at all.
The EU has repeatedly rejected the UK’s arguments, including the suggestion of a “technical” solution in which a border exists but is rendered “invisible” thanks to technology.
It comes as Theresa May faces pressure from parliamentarians back in Westminster to reconsider her stance on the customs union, which she has so far categorically ruled out.
On Wednesday the House of Lords backed an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill over whether the UK should have the option to remain within a customs union with a majority of 123, forcing the issue back to the Commons.
Yesterday a group of senior MPs including Tories Nicky Morgan and Bob Neill tabled a motion for a debate on the same matter, which will take place next week.
The motion stresses the importance of avoiding a ‘hard border’ between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the role of a customs union in achieving that.
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