Although an "impasse" remains in Brexit negotiations after
last week's EU summit, British Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons this Monday that four steps could remove the threat that Ireland and its leading agri-food export market become strangers overnight in five months' time (see timeline below).
Although an "impasse" remains in Brexit negotiations after last week's EU summit, British Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons this Monday that four steps could remove the threat that Ireland and its leading agri-food export market become strangers overnight in five months' time (see timeline below).
"First, we must make the commitment to a temporary UK-EU joint customs territory legally binding, so the Northern Ireland only proposal is no longer needed," the PM said. This means that the so-called backstop in case of a no-deal Brexit would keep the whole of the UK aligned with EU trade rules, not just NI. "This would not only protect relations north-south, but also, vitally, east-west," she said. Irish farmers north and south of the border can only agree with that.Prime Minister May added that "the second step is to create an option to extend the implementation period as an alternative to the backstop". That's the two-year transition period after the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019, which the British government has already accepted will see no change to existing trade rules while new, long-term arrangements are developed. An extension beyond two years could only be for a short period, she warned – "well before the end of this Parliament," which cannot last after the spring of 2022.Whether an extended implementation period or a backstop are needed, the third step for Prime Minister May is to ensure that "we could not be kept in either arrangement indefinitely". Although she did state a time limit (above) for the implementation period, she did not mention one for the backstop, indicating that this is the point now under negotiation with the EU.Finally, the PM said a fourth step was to ensure "full continued access for Northern Ireland’s businesses to the whole of the UK internal market" – closing the circle with step one and repeating that any solution will be UK-wide, without a different set of rules for Northern Ireland.
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