Brexit talks have fallen deeper into deadlock after Theresa May's trip to Brussels to hammer out a deal ahead of a make-or-break summit ended in a shock failure, after the DUP said they would block a planned deal on the Northern Irish border.
A breakthrough on the thorny issue appeared on the cards all day but hopes were dramatically dashed after the DUP – on which the Government relies for its majority in parliament – said it would block any effort to keep the province following EU rules to avoid a hard border with the Irish Republic.
Speaking in Dublin after the failure of Brussels talks Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said the UK had initially agreed the text of an agreement but that Ms May had inexplicably backed down at the last minute. Ms May's U-turn on the agreed text, leaked earlier in the day, came after speaking to Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP.
“The UK had agreed a text on the border that met our concerns,” Mr Varadkar said, adding that he too had confirmed the text after speaking with EU president Jean-Claude Juncker and EU Council president Donald Tusk.
“I am surprised and disappointed that the UK Government is not in a position to agree to what was approved today.”
Addressing the press at a brief in the European Commission building after a three-hour “working lunch” with the PM, Mr Juncker said: “Despite our best efforts and the significant progress we and our teams have made over the past days on these main withdrawal issues it was not possibly to reach a complete agreement today.”
Despite the setback Mr Juncker said he was still confident of reaching “sufficient progress” before next week and said the UK and EU would meet again for more discussions before the European Council summit on 14 and 15 December. He said Ms May was a “tough negotiator” and “not an easy one” and was defending “the point of view of Britain with all the energy we know she has”.
The Prime Minister echoed his sentiments. “We have had a constructive meeting today, both sides have been working hard in good faith, we’ve been negotiating hard and a lot of progress has been made. But one a lot of the issues there is a common understanding and it’s clear, crucially, that we want to move forward together,” she said.
“On a couple of issues some differences do remain which require further negotiation and consultation and those will continue.”
The Independent understands that Mr Juncker this morning told MEPs from the European Parliament’s Brexit steering group in a private meeting that Ms May was signed up to a joint text on the Irish border that would see “continued regulatory alignment” on the island of Ireland – effectively keeping the province in the single market and customs union.
“In the absence of agreed solutions the UK will ensure that there continues to be no divergence from those rules of the internal market and the customs union which, now or in the future, support North South cooperation and the protection of the Good Friday Agreement,” the original draft, obtained by the Irish public broadcaster RTE said.
One MEP in the room, Belgian Green Philippe Lamberts, went as far as to say he would “put my money” on a deal being reached today.
But shortly after details of the joint statement were leaked, the DUP once again took to the airwaves to make its opposition clear to “regulatory divergence” with the United Kingdom.
Leader Arlene Foster said: “We have been very clear. Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the United Kingdom. We will not accept any form of regulatory divergence which separates Northern Ireland economically or politically from the rest of the United Kingdom.
“The economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom will not be compromised in any way.”
In her Lancaster House speech in January the Prime Minister committed to leaving the single market, later adding that the UK would quit the EU customs union. This means UK goods would have to pass through a customs border in order to enter the EU.
This move has however created a difficulty on the Irish border, which the Good Friday stipulates should not be a hard border – something both sides say they want to preserve.
The European Parliament and Commission have proposed effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the customs union and single market in order to square the circle, though the draft text drawn up by negotiators fudges the issue and instead talks about keeping regulations the same – effectively the same thing.
Anti-Brexit campaigners hit out at the DUP’s role in the affair.
"It seems clear that Arlene Foster and the DUP are calling the shots and now are running the government. Labour and Conservative remain minded MPs outnumber this sad little rump by more than ten to one. It is time for these people to stand up and make themselves heard,” said Eloise Todd, chief executive of Best For Britain.
"While DUP MPs might have cost Theresa May more than Pogba, it is the British public who are paying the price for their intransigence.
"What galls me most is hearing the DUP saying that they want the same rules as the rest of the UK - if they believed, that they would have acted on same sex marriage and abortion but yet, they won't. Maybe more public cash will now be sent across the Irish Sea to keep the DUP happy."
