Could Brexit talks soon be heading for the ‘meltdown’ that Boris Johnson predicted? Michel Barnier’s press conference just now hardly inspires confidence that things are going to plan. The EU’s chief negotiator said that Britain was playing a ‘blame game’ in Brexit talks and that it had to accept the consequences of its decision to leave the EU. He went on to call for the British government to have something of a reality check over the way things were going. Today, that reality check came in the form of his rejection of Britain’s backstop proposal to solve the Irish border problem.
Theresa May had put forward the suggestion that the whole of the UK would remain in the customs union after Britain leaves the EU next March. This would, in effect, act as an extension of the transition period, meaning that the UK could prepare trade deals while the details of Britain’s future customs arrangement with the EU is thrashed out.
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