Boris Johnson risks Brexiteer fury with customs union hint, after EU gives green light to secret negotiations
Donald Tusk concedes there are ‘promising signals’ on reaching a deal
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Your support makes all the difference.Brexit negotiations will now enter the “tunnel” phase of intensive and secretive talks in a boost for Boris Johnson’s prospects of brokering a fresh deal.
Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, held what he called a “constructive” meeting with the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels, raising hopes of a breakthrough on a withdrawal deal.
As the EU27 ambassadors approved talks moving into the “tunnel” phase, EU Council president Donald Tusk said the UK had still not delivered anything workable, but conceded there were “promising signals”.
Mr Johnson hinted at a major concession to rescue a deal by refusing to rule out Northern Ireland staying in the EU’s customs union.
It came as details of private Tory polling emerged showing Mr Johnson cannot get a Commons majority unless he delivers Brexit by 31 October.
Many MPs believe that, if he cannot get a deal, Mr Johnson will use an emergency Saturday sitting of Parliament on October 19 to push for a “people versus Parliament” general election as early as next month.
But if a deal is forthcoming he would need the backing of the DUP and hardline Brexit-backing Tories to give it any chance of getting it through without opposition support.
See below for what was our live coverage.
Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has called on Boris Johnson to pay the £400m the UK owes Iran in relation to a cancelled arms deal in the 1970s, saying it would help secure the release of her constituent, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2016.
Siddiq told a press conference in Westminster:
"We owe Iran £400 million because of a sale of tanks that happened many gears ago.
"Nazanin and her family have been told by revolutionary guards that the debt is linked to her imprisonment.
"I want to make it crystal clear that I don't advocate paying for us to release hostages but the truth is this isn't an exchange for Nazanin this is money that we owe Iran.
"You need to pay the debt back so that my constituent is released."
Opinion: In the end, Northern Ireland will be the price Britain pays for Brexit, writes Mary Dejevsky
The latest YouGov poll shows a fall for the Lib Dems, while the big two gain ground.
Our deputy editor Rob Merrick has more on that remarkable interview by Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
More fun with “the tunnel”. Nobody seems quite sure how long and dark this tunnel is supposed to be, or whether it’s a real tunnel or not. Or whether negotiators are properly down inside, or just hanging around the entrance.
Hate crime spiked during parliamentary debates around what Boris Johnson labelled a “surrender bill” aiming to prevent a no-deal Brexit, police have revealed.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Operations has told reporters the increases “seemed to coincide with some of the debates” in parliament.
Our home affairs correspondent Lizzie Dearden has all the details.
RTE’s Europe editor says it looks like the UK is “drifting closer back to the original aims of the Northern Ireland backstop”.
The Irish Times earlier suggested the “movement” on the UK side amounted to concessions on customs, with customs check moved away from anywhere near the north-south Irish border to the Irish Sea – which is the kind of division between Northern Ireland and the British mainland that the DUP hates.
But in return for the concession, businesses in Northern Ireland would get a rebate because they would official remain part of the UK’s custom zone.
The Irish Times’ Denis Staunton summarises it this way: “Under the customs partnership, the UK would agree to enforce EU customs rules and tariffs on goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland. But if the EU tariff was higher than the UK tariff, businesses in the North would receive a rebate.”
Whether that would meet the “aims” of the backstop remains to be seen.
Reuters is now reporting that the “movement” of the UK side does indeed appear to be a concession that a customs border would effectively be in the Irish Sea.
The agency says a diplomat and an EU official said Michel Barnier had told member states that Britain had changed its position to now accept that the proposed replacement to the so-called “backstop” cannot erect a customs border between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.
“On customs, they admitted that the solution cannot result in the creation of a border in Ireland,” the diplomat said, adding that this was the reason Barnier gave national envoys in Brussels to justify going into intensified talks with Britain over the weekend.
Separately, two senior EU diplomats told Reuters the possible solution could include two elements: keeping Northern Ireland inside the United Kingdom’s customs regime and, at the same time, ensuring that customs and regulatory checks were carried out together.
Under an earlier British proposal, the regulatory border would run in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain. The sources said they understood that customs checks could be carried out there as well under the plan now under discussions.
Boris Johnson has hinted at a major concession to the EU to rescue a Brexit deal by refusing to say whether Northern Ireland could effectively leave the customs union.
“It would be wrong of me to give a running commentary on the negotiations. Let negotiators get on with the job,” he said.
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