Brexit: UK ministers talk up Irish border compromise as key to deal
Two of Boris Johnson’s senior cabinet ministers have
talked up the possibility of securing a Brexit deal through some divergence on
the rules in Northern Ireland, as the government’s rhetoric showed fresh signs
of shifting ahead of crucial talks next week.
With Johnson due to meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the
European commission president, on Monday, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit
secretary, and the home secretary, Priti Patel, accepted the Irish border was
likely to be a key to any potential agreement.
Following weeks of government discussion about
preparedness for a no-deal departure, both ministers said the overwhelming
focus was leaving with an agreement.
“The entire
machinery of government, now, is focused on getting that deal and is planning
and preparing to leave on 31 October with a deal,” Patel told BBC1’s Andrew
Marr Show.
With Johnson vehemently committed to leaving the EU
on 31 October, but bound by law to seeking an extension if a deal is not in
place by the time of the European council summit on 17 October, there has been
intense focus on ways he could find a plan acceptable to Brussels but which
would not be seen by Conservative MPs as a betrayal.
This has centred on ways to allow Northern Ireland
to stay converged on some regulatory and standards border issues with the
Republic of Ireland, preventing frontier checks while not having a full customs
border in the Irish Sea.
Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme,
Barclay said it was important to get the consent of all political sides in
Northern Ireland, but also to abide by the Good Friday peace deal, which could
potentially be breached by a hard Irish border.
“It is important we move forwards with the consent
of both sides of the community in Northern Ireland,” said Barclay, who was due
next week to see the EU’s chief negotiatior, Michel Barnier. “That’s very much
part of the thinking and part of the consultations that we’re having.”
He insisted there had been definite progress in
finding a successful compromise: “There has been detailed technical talks led
by David Frost, the prime minister’s Europe adviser. They have been meeting
with Michel Barnier’s team,” he said.
“The prime minister will be seeing President Juncker
tomorrow, I’ll be meeting with Michel Barnier tomorrow, so there’s extensive
talks been happening both at a technical level but also at a political level.
So there has been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes. We can see
a landing zone in terms of a future deal but there is significant work still to
do.”
Johnson is committed to getting rid of the backstop,
the guarantee central to Theresa May’s rejected deal in which the UK would
effectively stay within the EU’s customs union if no other solution for the
Irish border could be reached before the end of a post-exit transition period.
Another option would be a backstop just for Northern
Ireland, but the government has rejected this. Barclay said while it was vital
for the UK to “leave as a whole”, some divergence already existed between
Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
“We can get
into those details as part of the talks. But that is different from the
principle of the backstop, and the backstop needs to go,” he said.
Speaking later, Patel was more cautious, saying she
did not want to “pre-empt” the talks, but accepted the Irish border issue had
moved on from the backstop in terms of discussions with the EU.
“The reality is we have to deal with the backstop
issue, and people said, under the Theresa May deal, that the withdrawal
agreement would never be considered or looked at again, and neither would the
political declaration,” she said.
“We are in different territory right now, so it’s no
point arguing about the past. We are moving forward now as a government,
collectively, focused on leaving but leaving with a deal.”
She added: “We have to leave and we have to leave
with a deal on 31 October, and there’s no point right now trying to prejudge
the discussions that are taking place.”
