WITH just three days to go until Theresa May heads to Brussels for a “make or break” crunch meeting with Jean-Claude Junker, and with her cabinet imploding in a pornography scandal, her hopes of being able to point to some progress on the question of the Irish border also seems to be slipping away.
On Thursday, the government had suggested a fudge that would please all sides, effectively meaning devolving some extra powers to Belfast and allowing the north to remain in the Customs Union.
But that caused the Brexiteer, unionist DUP to threaten to walk away from their £1bn deal to prop up May’s Tories in government, a move that could possibly lead to a snap election.
Ireland’s new deputy prime minister has insisted that a deal to please all sides was still possible.
“I think it is doable ... We are not where we need to be today, but I think it is possible to get to be where we need to be in the next few days,” Simon Coveney said in Dublin on Friday.
He also confirmed that the government in Dublin was also speaking to the DUP in the north.
“The DUP also want to look at a practical solution,” Convey insisted.
Monday’s meeting is the last chance the British have to move Brexit talks on to phase 2, and start negotiating a trade deal.
EU leaders are meeting on 14 December and will need to hear that “sufficient progress” has been made on the three big Brexit issues: Ireland, citizens’ rights and the financial settlement, the so-called divorce bill.
British and EU teams will work into the weekend to try and find the “formula of words” that works for all sides.
The EU stand with Ireland, and if Dublin are unhappy they could veto any progress.
Coveney indicated a new bespoke customs arrangement was possible, he added.
“I don’t mind what we can call it. We can call it a customs partnership, we can call it a grand trade partnership whatever you want to call it, but the bottom line is that if goods are going to have to move from one country’s union to another country’s union there will have to be customs checks somewhere, whether it is on a business premises or a border and we are trying to avoid that.
“And I think we can avoid it in the context of the negotiations.”
Coveney also criticised the DUP for suggesting the Irish were trying to bring down Brexit because it was good for Irish nationalism.
Former DUP leader Peter Robinson accused the Irish Government of acting provocatively and has told the South to “wind its neck in”.
“There is not an anti-British bone in my body. Britain is a great country and we want a good deal. A good deal for Britain is a good deal for us, but Ireland will not be steamrolled on this issue.”
Meanwhile, a new poll suggests almost two-thirds of Scots want powers currently held by Brussels to be transferred to Holyrood and not Westminster when Britain leaves the European Union.
The survey, by 38 Degrees campaigning site, says 62 per cent of Scots want to see responsibilities over devolved areas currently held by Europe to be transferred straight to the Scottish Parliament in the wake of Brexit.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her Welsh counterpart Carwyn Jones have described the Tory EU (withdrawl) Bill as a ‘power grab’ because it will see Whitehall initially retain all repatriated responsibilities.
Stewart Kirkpatrick of 38 Degrees said: “This poll couldn’t be clearer: Scots want the Scottish Parliament, not Westminster, to have control over devolved issues after Brexit”.
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