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Theresa May arrives in Brussels to meet Juncker on Brexit border deal – live
Theresa May arrives in Brussels to meet Juncker on Brexit border deal – live
(35 minutes later)
Here is the statement from the commission that clears the way for the European council to agree that negotiations can now proceed to phase two:
The European Commission has today recommended to the European Council (Article 50) to conclude that sufficient progress has been made in the first phase of the Article 50 negotiations with the United Kingdom. It is now for the European Council (Article 50) on 15 December 2017 to decide if sufficient progress has been made, allowing the negotiations to proceed to their second phase.
The Commission’s assessment is based on a Joint Report agreed by the negotiators of the Commission and the United Kingdom Government, which was today endorsed by Prime Minister Theresa May during a meeting with President Jean-Claude Juncker.
The Commission is satisfied that sufficient progress has been achieved in each of the three priority areas of citizens’ rights, the dialogue on Ireland / Northern Ireland, and the financial settlement, as set out in the European Council Guidelines of 29 April 2017. The Commission’s negotiator has ensured that the life choices made by EU citizens living in the United Kingdom will be protected. The rights of EU citizens living in the United Kingdom and United Kingdom citizens in the EU27 will remain the same after the United Kingdom has left the EU. The Commission has also made sure that any administrative procedures will be cheap and simple for EU citizens in the United Kingdom.
As regards the financial settlement, the United Kingdom has agreed that commitments taken by the EU28 will be honoured by the EU28, including the United Kingdom.
With regard to the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom acknowledges the unique situation on the island of Ireland and has made significant commitments to avoid a hard border.
Among the many questions thrown up by DUP leader Arlene Foster’s apparent endorsement of whatever deal we are about to have unveiled in front of us: how can the assurance that, as she puts it, “the entirety of the UK is leaving the single market and the customs union” be squared with demands that there be no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic?
We’ll also be looking to find out what the “six substantive changes” won by the DUP amount to.
Interesting to see how govt has guaranteed Arlene Foster in writing that whole of UK is leaving customs union/single market but soft border
As I said, Brexit means breakfast. But where is the coffee?
President @JunckerEU welcomes Prime Minister @theresa_may. Working breakfast underway. pic.twitter.com/9mYXCS1FIj
The Sun gives May a boost this morning with a report that she has “won her fight with the EU” on the future role of the European court of justice – although Brexiters might not be quite as enthusiastic.
The EU had insisted that, post Brexit, issues concerning citizens’ rights and access to the single market must come under the remit of the ECJ. May has already conceded that the court would continue to have jurisdiction in Britain during any transition period.
The Sun reports – under the headline “We win, EU lose” – that this period will be a full decade, running until 2029. It admits the apparent agreement “risks infuriating Tory Brexiteers”.
Donald Tusk has put back his statement in order to meet Theresa May at 7am GMT (8am CET). The statement from the European council president will now be at 7.30am.
Overnight, Julian Smith, the government chief whip, sent a series of tweets strongly hinting that a deal had been reached:
@theresa_may has worked tirelessly this week to try to move EU negotiations onto the next stage in the National Interest
I have done everything I can to represent the wide range of views of @Conservatives Colleagues as Chief Whip
@theresa_may has led very challenging negotiations this week with energy, persistence & drive
I will continue to do everything I can to ensure that the views of @Conservatives MPs are fully reflected in phase 2
So … we have a deal? Juncker’s chief of staff has tweeted a puff of white smoke, Vatican-style:
pic.twitter.com/GsNCrVhQXZ
DUP leader Arlene Foster tells Sky News her party has won “six substantive changes” to the text on the Irish border proposed earlier this week, including:
No red line down the Irish Sea … [and] very clear confirmation that the entirety of the UK is leaving the single market and the customs union.
Foster said her party had been working with No 10 “right into the early hours” and that she had been “negotiating directly with the prime minister”.
Theresa May now has “a text she feels she can take back to Europe”, Foster says.
Foster says that while she is satisfied that “constitutionally, politically and economically … the integrity of the United Kingdom was kept in place”, the DUP has not secured all it wanted in the new agreement:
There are still matters there that we would have liked to see clarified – we ran out of time.
Sky News reports that DUP leader Arlene Foster is saying “substantive changes” have been made to the text concerning a post-Brexit Irish border following all-night talks.
Sky News reports that DUP leader Arlene Foster is saying “substantive changes” have been made to the text concerning a post-Brexit Irish border following all-night talks.
We’ll hear from May and Juncker after their meeting, which is slated to last around half an hour. Reports – and the presence of May and Davis in Brussels at the crack of dawn – suggest a deal has been reached. But we’ve been here before, of course …
We’ll hear from May and Juncker after their meeting, which is slated to last around half an hour. Reports – and the presence of May and Davis in Brussels at the crack of dawn – suggest a deal has been reached. But we’ve been here before, of course …
The prime minister was met by Juncker and his chief of staff Martin Selmayr at 6.56am local time (5.56am GMT) as she arrived at the Berlaymont HQ of the European commission.
The prime minister was met by Juncker and his chief of staff Martin Selmayr at 6.56am local time (5.56am GMT) as she arrived at the Berlaymont HQ of the European commission.
Theresa May has arrived in Brussels for her critical Brexit meeting with Juncker pic.twitter.com/mpCeSy3p0N
Theresa May has arrived in Brussels for her critical Brexit meeting with Juncker pic.twitter.com/mpCeSy3p0N
Reporters at the Berlaymont say the prime minister and David Davis have arrived for the meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker.
Reporters at the Berlaymont say the prime minister and David Davis have arrived for the meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker.
Jean-Claude Juncker is in the building; May and Davis are due to arrive imminently. Let’s hope someone has ordered in strong coffees.
This may have been May.. but turns out it was Juncker. pic.twitter.com/7Myv52a3h0
A handy guide to a term you might be hearing a lot today:
What is regulatory alignment?
Inside the EU, both Ireland and Northern Ireland (as part of the UK) are in the single market and customs union so share the same regulations and standards.
The only way to avoid a hardening of the border after Brexit is to ensure regulations and standards on both sides remain more or less the same in areas such as food, medicines and so on.
This might imply a permanent acceptance of EU rules – something that would be anathema to hardline UK Brexiters and the DUP, who reject anything that would “decouple” the North from the UK.
Brexit secretary David Davis told parliament that regulatory alignment would not mean adopting exactly the same rules as the EU but “mutually recognised” rules and inspections. This would help avoid a hard border, but would also limit the UK’s ability to diverge from EU regulations.
However, an official in Brussels countered that regulatory alignment would mean the UK would have to implement rules from Brussels without having influence over them.
Can it work?
Parliament cannot bind its successors. This principle would mean a deal would never be completely secure for more than five years – putting its feasibility in doubt.
Theresa May’s late-night Brexit deal talks make it to the front of many papers, but with details lacking as the printing presses rolled, only the Telegraph leads on it, anticipating that the PM will sign a deal today.
The Daily Express warns of “chaos to last 10 days”, but is referring to the weather.
The bitcoin surge is the Times splash, while the Guardian leads on a damning report into universities that concludes few students are getting value for money. The i points the finger at vice-chancellors’ rather generous pay packets.
The Financial Times leads on its own analysis of the gender pay gap and concludes that submissions from firms that claimed to have no gap were “highly improbable”.
The Daily Mail reports that defence secretary Gavin Williamson is refusing to back down from his comments that British Isis fighters ought to be killed rather than allowed to return to the UK.
Meghan Markle’s father would like to walk her down the aisle at her wedding to Prince Harry, according to the Mirror. And the Sun says a suspect was allowed to escape after police officers decided not to pursue him across a muddy field.
Incidentally, if you’d like a rundown of the front pages in your inbox each weekday morning, along with the key news, sign up for the Guardian briefing and we’ll make it happen:
Mina Andreeva, deputy chief spokeswoman for Jean-Claude Juncker, says the meeting between the European commission president and Theresa May at 6am GMT is “now confirmed”.
A press conference is due to follow the meeting.
Sky News reports that Arlene Foster, leader of the DUP, will make a statement later today. It was a phone call from Foster that forced May to pull back from a deal almost struck at the beginning of the week over the Irish border.
Foster later said the text of the not-quite-agreement had come as a “big shock … we realised there was no way we could sign up to that text”.
Following all-night talks, can we hazard that the pre-breakfast Brussels dash by May and Davis means the DUP is now on board? (Figuratively – we don’t believe they’re on the plane.)
Downing Street has now confirmed that David Davis is accompanying Theresa May to Brussels, where they will meet with Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier imminently.
Why is the Irish border a stumbling block for Brexit?
Inside the EU, both Ireland and Northern Ireland are part of the single market and customs union so share the same regulations and standards, allowing a soft or invisible border between the two.
Britain’s exit from the EU – taking Northern Ireland with it – risks a return to a hard or policed border. The only way to avoid this post-Brexit is for regulations on both sides to remain more or less the same in key areas including food, animal welfare, medicines and product safety.
Early drafts of the agreement Britain hoped to get signed off earlier this week said there would be “no divergence” from EU rules that “support north-south cooperation” – later changed to “continued alignment” in a formulation that appeared to allow for subtle divergences.
But it raised new questions about who would oversee it and how disputes might be resolved. It was also clearly still a step too far for the DUP.
Here’s what we know so far about the overnight machinations:
With the EU’s deadline rapidly approaching, the prime minister cleared her diary to travel to meet Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk on Friday morning.
The chief spokesman for the commission, Margaritis Schinas, tweeted:
.@JunckerEU was on the phone with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and then with @theresa_may. We are making progress but not yet fully there. Talks are continuing throughout the night. Early morning meeting possible with press/point thereafter. Tonight more than ever, stay tuned, gsms on.
The developments came as May edged closer to a deal with the DUP over the Irish border, as the EU warned she only had until midnight on Sunday to salvage the agreement or face a long delay in starting Brexit trade talks.
Tusk and Juncker had cleared their schedules for a late meal with May on Thursday night. However, the prime minister would not commit to travelling until she had a firm agreement nailed down with the DUP, after the party unexpectedly vetoed the first proposal on Monday over fears it would give Northern Ireland a different Brexit deal to the rest of the UK.
DUP sources were still sounding a note of caution on Thursday night, saying they had still not signed off any deal and there was more work to do.
As the clock ticked down, Tusk said he would be giving a statement on the situation at 6.50am on Friday – before the stock exchange opened – prompting speculation that he was about to pass on information that could affect the markets.
Sources close to Tusk said he would be leaving early for a meeting in Hungary but there was growing speculation that a new proposal for solving the Irish border issue would be ready on Friday morning.
A negotiating team from the DUP, including its Westminster leader, Nigel Dodds, spent much of the day holed up in the Cabinet Office with May’s team trying to make headway with a new draft text.
Earlier on Thursday, Simon Coveney, the Irish trade minister, indicated there was still room for compromise but made it clear his side would not budge on the key issue of some regulatory alignment between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic to prevent the reemergence of a hard border.
The Brexit secretary, David Davis, is also reportedly travelling with May to Brussels for their early meeting.
It’s an early start for politics and the politics live blog this morning, with the prospect of an announcement on whether a deal has been struck to allow British and EU negotiators to sidle towards phase two of Brexit talks.
Theresa May is already on her way to Brussels, where – according to an overnight statement from Mina Andreeva, deputy chief spokeswoman for Jean-Claude Juncker – she and the European commission president are “likely” to meet at 7am CET (6am GMT), with a press conference to follow.
.@JunckerEU and @theresa_may are likely to meet this morning at 7:00am (CET) @EU_Commission with probable press point 7:30/8:00. Definitive confirmation to follow in the next 1,5 hours. pic.twitter.com/vxfoehOqrM
The key stumbling block this week has been the question of the Irish border, with a near breakthrough stymied when it turned out Theresa May had not won the backing of her parliamentary partners, the DUP.
With a warning from the EU that progress needed to be made on an agreed text by – checks watch – today, and with a meeting of diplomats of the 27 member states scheduled for this evening, talks have continued through the night as Downing Street attempts to conjure a wording that will keep the DUP, Ireland and the EU on side.
The European council president, Donald Tusk, has already announced that he will be making a statement at 6.50am GMT/7.50am CET.
We’ll have it all here on the live blog as it happens. Come and chat in the comments below or find me on Twitter @Claire_Phipps.
