Michel Barnier is to offer UK to freely leave the planned single customs territory - but only if Northern Ireland stays.
The government and the DUP have repeatedly rejected this because Northern Ireland would still have have to remain within it.The DUP said Northern Ireland would still be in the backstop, effectively drawing a ‘border in the Irish Sea’ with the rest of the UK, something May has ruled out many times before.
There had been speculation the prime minister could fly out to Brussels early on Monday to clinch a deal if an agreement on the backstop – intended to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland – was within reach.May had been seeking legally binding assurances that the UK could not be tied indefinitely to the EU through the backstop in an attempt to win around MPs who inflicted a massive defeat on the Withdrawal Agreement in a previous vote in January.
Barnier’s latest comments came after May delivered a speech on Friday asking EU leaders for ‘one last push’ to help her get her deal over the line in the Commons. It was unclear whether what he said in a series of tweets was intended as a new offer or simply a restatement of the EU’s position after his talks on Tuesday with Attorney General Geoffrey Cox and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay failed to reach agreement.
He said the EU was committed ‘to give UK the option to exit the Single Customs Territory unilaterally, while the other elements of the backstop must be maintained to avoid a hard border’.To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
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