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Brexit: UK 'may consider longer transition period' | Brexit: UK 'may consider longer transition period' |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Theresa May is willing to consider extending the proposed 21-month transition period after Brexit to break the current deadlock over Northern Ireland, senior EU officials have said. | Theresa May is willing to consider extending the proposed 21-month transition period after Brexit to break the current deadlock over Northern Ireland, senior EU officials have said. |
The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said No 10 had refused to rule out extending it during a summit in Brussels. | The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said No 10 had refused to rule out extending it during a summit in Brussels. |
The PM has been addressing EU leaders in the hope of advancing the process. | The PM has been addressing EU leaders in the hope of advancing the process. |
EU officials said insufficient progress had been made to call a special summit of leaders next month to draft a deal. | |
But they said talks should continue in the hope of forging an agreement as soon as possible. | |
After speaking to her 27 counterparts for about 20 minutes, Mrs May said she remained confident of a "good outcome" and called for "courage, trust and leadership" on both sides. | |
The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019 - but an agreement on how this will happen is proving elusive amid differences over how to prevent a hard border in Ireland. | |
The UK has signed up to the principle of a backstop - an insurance policy designed to prevent the need for customs checks at the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic unless and until a new economic partnership is agreed with the EU. | |
But the two sides cannot agree over what form it will take and how long it will last. EU leaders are now proposing extending the post-Brexit transition period. | |
As it stands, it stands would last from 30 March 2019 until 31 December 2020. But it could run until the end of 2021 - in the hope that it would give both sides more time to agree a future partnership and ensure the backstop is never applied. | |
The transition period, during which the UK would abide by the rules of the single market and customs union, is designed to prevent a "cliff-edge" for business. | |
The BBC's political editor said extending it further would cause a "lot of hostility" among Tory Brexiteers, who argue it would leave the UK as a "vassal" state subject to EU rules without having a seat at the table and also having to make contiued payments to Brussels, albeit smaller than now. | |
Brexiteers claimed Mrs May had conceded ground again without getting anything in return. One long-term critic, Nadine Dorries MP, said it was time for her to let someone else negotiate. | |
The president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, suggested Mrs May was "neutral" on the idea of extending the transition but had shown willingness to look into the possibility. | |
He welcomed what he said was Mrs May's constructive tone but added that she had offered "nothing new" of substance in her speech. | |
"Both sides mentioned the idea of an extension of the transition period as one possibility which is on the table and would have to be looked into," he said. | "Both sides mentioned the idea of an extension of the transition period as one possibility which is on the table and would have to be looked into," he said. |
"She underlined the importance of the issue but she didn't say anything in terms of content. | "She underlined the importance of the issue but she didn't say anything in terms of content. |
"She said we will keep under consideration the issue of the transition period but she did not say anything in favour or against the three-year period." | "She said we will keep under consideration the issue of the transition period but she did not say anything in favour or against the three-year period." |
While not commenting on the transition issue, No 10 said Mrs May had asked EU leaders to work with the UK to find a creative way out of their current dilemmas. | |
Downing Street emphasised the solution lay in agreeing a future framework for an ambitious trade deal so the backstop would not apply. | |
Earlier, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said a longer transition period was not a substitute for a concrete agreement over the backstop. | |
But he said the idea would have some merit, adding "if it did help to reassure people that the backstop would never be activated, that would be a positive thing". | |
Mrs May held separate talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Mr Varadkar, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, in what British officials characterised as "constructive and serious conversations". |