Tag: Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border

But Watchtower Adventures owner Mark Rice fears he could go bust if Brexit brings back controls along the currently free-flowing frontier. "You just don't know, you could wake up some morning the next day with the road blocked," he said. "It would probably close me down, that is the big fear, and I've put everything I have into it." Advertisement Where stag dos and hen parties trade luminous paintball volleys, British Army base "Romeo 21" once loomed during the conflict that tore the British province of Northern Ireland apart for three decades. Three watchtowers and a helicopter pad commanded a panoramic view of the border between County Armagh in Northern Ireland, and County Louth in the Republic. "You woke up in the middle of the night with the helicopters flying over your house," Rice remembered. The region's turbulent history is now part of the paintballing park's marketing strategy. At the same time, the haunting hidden remnants of the army base have surfaced again after a heat wave last summer that kindled gorse fires in the area. Coils of rusted barbed wire, heavy metal bolts and wiring are now visible - a reminder that the past in this troubled zone lies just under the surface. "We're now again talking in the language of orange and green, British and Irish, nationalist and unionist, republican and loyalist."

The Irish government has urged Theresa May to put forward new proposals on the Ireland border question in writing to Brussels before the Conservative party conference in order to head off a collapse in Brexit negotiations. McEntee said May was vague and had hinted that she could not deliver a British alternative to the EU’s proposal for the Irish backstop in time for the October summit. “She didn’t exactly give a timeline, I’ll be very honest,“ McEntee told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland – referring to when May would deliver on a legal text for the Irish border backstop, which Brussels has been looking for since the joint agreement in December to ensure no hard border between Northern Ireland and the republic. “She said it would be forthcoming. Obviously we know that the [Tory party] conference is coming up in a week and a half but the October summit is on very shortly after that so if you do the maths, it doesn’t give us very much time,” she added. Don’t buy the Brexit hype: it’s a border in the Irish Sea or the customs union | Jonathan Lis Read more “So what we have asked is that they give this information, that it’s in written form, that it’s a legal document, because the backstop has to be a legal document and that they give it to the taskforce as quickly as possible, they are the experts on customs, experts in understanding and identifying if this could work whatever this proposal is. “We need to get away from the idea of anyone trying to create a border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. That’s not the EU’s objective.” He also hinted at a long-rumoured “backstop to a backstop” offering London a political declaration as detailed as possible on post-Brexit ties, which would allow a clear, legally binding backstop in the withdrawal agreement but a strongly worded pledge in the future relationship document to ensure there was no regulatory differences between Northern Ireland and Britain. “They showed willing and she showed nothing. On Thursday, the former Brexit secretary, David Davis, told the BBC the new proposals were a softening of the position of the EU, which he felt was coming closer to the position of the European Research Group of eurosceptic MPs, which has insisted the border could remain invisible with the help of technology.

Theresa May and the government would face a race against time to pass a slew of new laws, or risk creating an “unsustainable legal vacuum”, if Britain plunged out of the EU without a deal, Labour’s Keir Starmer has warned. Dominic Raab insisted last week that the government had the legislation in place to cope, if Britain is forced to leave in March 2019 without a withdrawal agreement. Criminals held under the European arrest warrant. The government has long promised an immigration bill – but has not yet even published a white paper. The withdrawal agreement with the EU is intended to allow for most existing laws and institutions to remain in place during a transitional period of almost two years, while the government negotiates the details of its future trading relationship with the EU. A hard Brexit would take Britain out of the EU’s single market and customs union and ends its obligations to respect the four freedoms, make big EU budget payments and accept the jurisdiction of the ECJ: what Brexiters mean by “taking back control” of Britain’s borders, laws and money. Labour has edged closer to backing a referendum on the final deal, if parliament rejects it – though the leadership would prefer the opportunity to challenge May in a general election. A government spokesperson said on Sunday night: “We do not want or expect a no-deal scenario and remain confident we will agree a mutually advantageous deal with the EU. “Leave Means Leave have the fight of our lives ahead of us. Raab stressed that a no-deal Brexit was not the government’s preferred outcome and said: The vast majority, roughly 80%, of the withdrawal agreement has now been agreed.” However, ramping up preparations for a no-deal outcome was one aspect of the agreement reached in Chequers in July.

Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiatior, rejected the customs proposals in the British government’s Brexit white paper. On Friday last week he said: Barnier said today that the EU was “open to a customs union” with the UK after Brexit. He said: Barnier said the UK and the EU had made good progress towards a deal on security after Brexit. (@nickeardleybbc) This from Michel Barnier today doesn’t bode well for the Chequers proposal... pic.twitter.com/oRBHNSarOX July 26, 2018 Here is some reaction to the press conference from journalists and commentators. He says he negotiates with Theresa May, with Dominic Raab, and their teams. He says he has been asking the UK to say what it wants. But there are other points where the EU has “a problem”, because the UK’s plans contradict his negotiating mandate. Raab says he and Barnier have had a good meeting. He says the UK has decided to leave the EU, with its single market and four freedoms. He says the UK government has a backstop plan.

In an interview with the Observer, Starmer said: “At the end of last year, the EU and UK government made a political agreement that there would be no hard border in Northern Ireland. “However, the content of the withdrawal agreement is not legally binding. Labour’s attempt to work with other parties reflects a genuine fear that negotiations on Brexit could founder on the border issues, leaving the future of cross-border trade in doubt. Don’t let the Brexiters turn Ireland into a new Cyprus | Andrew Adonis Read more Starmer said there had been signs that the government had been backsliding on its commitment to having no infrastructure on the border because it could not find another solution, other than remaining in a customs union, which Tory MPs will not accept. As a result, it was vital to hold it to its word to prevent what would be a disastrous economic and political outcome and a threat to peace. “You need to do this on a cross-party basis,” said one prominent Labour MP. “Tory MPs will be reluctant to defeat the government by backing a Labour amendment. They would not do it because they would be accused of working to put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.” While the EU signed off last week on plans for a 21-month transition period after Brexit day on 29 March next year – during which Britain will remain effectively in the EU – the main sticking point on a final deal remains the unsolved problem of the Irish border. May has said there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. But she has come up with no clear or convincing plan about how to prevent the flow of goods from Northern Ireland into the Republic and vice versa, once the UK is outside the customs union and single market.