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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/01/brexit-northern-ireland-could-be-given-joint-eu-and-uk-status
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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Brexit: Davis considers joint EU and UK status for Northern Ireland | Brexit: Davis considers joint EU and UK status for Northern Ireland |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The Brexit department has confirmed it is working to refine its plans for post-departure customs arrangements with the EU after reports said Northern Ireland could be given joint EU and UK status and a “buffer zone” on its border with Ireland. | |
| The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) declined to comment directly on reports that the Brexit secretary, David Davis, had proposed a modification of the maximum facilitation customs scheme to avoid the need for Irish border checks or infrastructure. | The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) declined to comment directly on reports that the Brexit secretary, David Davis, had proposed a modification of the maximum facilitation customs scheme to avoid the need for Irish border checks or infrastructure. |
| The idea, outlined in the Sun, would see Northern Ireland have a joint regime of UK and EU customs regulations, allowing it to trade freely with both, and a 10-mile wide “special economic zone” on the border with Ireland, thus avoiding checks there. | |
| Asked about the plan, a DExEU spokesman said: “We have set out two viable future customs arrangements with the EU and work is ongoing to refine these. | Asked about the plan, a DExEU spokesman said: “We have set out two viable future customs arrangements with the EU and work is ongoing to refine these. |
| “Both of these would deliver on our commitments to ensure UK-EU trade is as frictionless as possible, avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, preserve the integrity of the UK’s internal market and enable us to establish an independent international trade policy.” | “Both of these would deliver on our commitments to ensure UK-EU trade is as frictionless as possible, avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, preserve the integrity of the UK’s internal market and enable us to establish an independent international trade policy.” |
| The two plans are “max fac”, which would seek to use technology to avoid border checks, and Theresa May’s preferred “customs partnership”, under which the UK would collect duties for the EU. | The two plans are “max fac”, which would seek to use technology to avoid border checks, and Theresa May’s preferred “customs partnership”, under which the UK would collect duties for the EU. |
| The cabinet has been deadlocked: Brexiters, such as Davis, object strongly to May’s option, but her allies say the technology needed for max fac will not be ready for some time. | The cabinet has been deadlocked: Brexiters, such as Davis, object strongly to May’s option, but her allies say the technology needed for max fac will not be ready for some time. |
| With time running out before a key European council summit on 28 June, May split ministers in her Brexit subcommittee into two teams to seek solutions, with Davis heading the max fac group. | With time running out before a key European council summit on 28 June, May split ministers in her Brexit subcommittee into two teams to seek solutions, with Davis heading the max fac group. |
| Davis’s reported plan seems an attempt to circumvent some of the objections, but raises other issues, not least the likely objections of the EU, and of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), which has said it will oppose any scheme that treated Northern Ireland differently to the rest of the UK. | |
| There was no immediate response from the DUP. However, a spokesman for the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said Ireland remained concerned that May and her ministers were still not focusing on the broader questions over the border issue, notably a “backstop” position in the event of no immediate solution. | |
| “At this stage in the process, the UK must engage in a more detailed and realistic way on the draft text of the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland including the backstop,” the spokesman said. | |
| According to the Sun, Davis was ready to drop his support for technological solutions, after police said systems, such as number plate recognition cameras, could become a target for sectarian attacks. | |
| An unnamed Whitehall source told the Sun: “Max fac 2 is tremendously complicated, but it’s at least something the cabinet can unite around.” | An unnamed Whitehall source told the Sun: “Max fac 2 is tremendously complicated, but it’s at least something the cabinet can unite around.” |
| The Labour MP Chris Leslie, a supporter of the Brexit-opposing Open Britain campaign, said: “If there was an award for coming up with unnecessarily complicated and convoluted solutions to self-inflicted problems, David Davis would win it every year.” | The Labour MP Chris Leslie, a supporter of the Brexit-opposing Open Britain campaign, said: “If there was an award for coming up with unnecessarily complicated and convoluted solutions to self-inflicted problems, David Davis would win it every year.” |
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