Liam Fox: No answer to Irish border question until 'end state' of trade deal is clear
2 min read
The UK will not be able to find a solution to the post-Brexit Irish border unless the EU allows Brexit negotiations to move on to the future trading relationship, Liam Fox claimed today.
The UK is under pressure from Brussels to come up with answers on the thorny issue of the Northern Irish border ahead of the crunch European Council summit set for 14-15 December.
Theresa May has repeatedly stated her opposition to a hard border on the island of Ireland, but she is also committed to taking the UK out of the EU's customs union and the single market.
The Irish government has suggested one solution would be letting Northern Ireland remain in the EU's customs union - a stance flatly rejected by the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Arlene Foster.
This morning International Trade Secretary Dr Fox said there would be no answers on the future of Ireland until the shape of the trade deal between the EU and the UK was clear.
"We've made very clear what the outline is of our interests, that we don't want there to be a hard border but the UK Is going to be leaving the customs union and the single market. We've always actually had exceptions for Ireland whether it's in our voting rights, our rights of residence in the UK," he told Sky News' Sunday with Niall Paterson.
"We've always accepted a certain asymmetry and that will have to be part of whatever agreement we come to with the EU, but we can't get a final answer to the Irish question until we get an idea of the end state and until we get into discussions with the EU on the end state that will be very difficult.
"So the quicker we can do that the better and we're still in the position where the EU doesn't want to do that and we're getting quite close now to 2018 when we'll be talking about next year when we leave the EU. So for all the reasosn international as well as European I think we have to get there faster than we're doing at the present time."
Shortly after that interview, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said he was concerned about Dr Fox's remarks.
"I’m worried about this news from Liam Fox this morning," the leftwinger told ITV's Peston on Sunday.
"I think the one thing that we don’t want to do is jeopardise any movement quickly because we need movement to get us into the proper trade negotiations. So I’m hoping that isn’t a Downing Street-sanctioned statement that he’s made."
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