Brexit: Theresa May says it is now up to EU to prevent hard border as she visits Northern Ireland

'The government has done that work. The white paper is our plan for the future'

Theresa May will say it is now up to the EU to prevent a hard border in Ireland after Brexit, telling affected residents she has “done that work” with her Chequers plan.

Speaking in Belfast, the prime minister will seek to calm fears about the impact of withdrawal on the province, by pledging to deliver a deal that “works for the whole UK, including Northern Ireland”.

She will describe the return of border posts and checks as “almost inconceivable” – arguing her proposals for a free trade area for goods can provide the solution.

But, in tough talk, Ms May will rule out further compromise, insisting it is “now for the EU to respond” and not to “fall back onto previous positions which have already been proven unworkable”.

“The government has done that work. The white paper is our plan for the future. It is the way to the stronger and brighter tomorrow that I know awaits the whole United Kingdom,” she will say.

The message will be delivered after Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, again pointed to the need to agree a “backstop for Ireland” as a “matter of urgency”.

It will also come just hours before Mr Barnier is due to deliver the EU’s verdict on the Chequers plan, after a meeting of ministers from the bloc’s 27 other member states.

Even as she arrived for her first visit to the Irish border since the Brexit referendum two years ago, the prime minister faced criticism her plan was “too little, too late”.

Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Fein’s vice-president, said the British PM would learn about the “catastrophic implications” of Brexit and hear the “fear and trepidation” of people living and working near what will become the UK’s only land border with the EU.

The issue remains the biggest hurdle in the way of a Brexit deal – with the EU insisting it must be settled before it will discuss future trading arrangements.

On Wednesday, Ms May ducked a question about whether a “no deal” Brexit – which she says she will accept if necessary – would trigger a hard border, telling MPs: “There isn’t a sort of simple answer to that.”

In Belfast she will insist it would “not be acceptable” for people who cross the border every day – or for businesses with supply and distribution chains – for checks to return.

And she will insist the Chequers proposals can resolve the controversy through a “close future partnership between the UK and the EU”.

The proposed free trade area on goods would avoid the need for customs and regulatory checks, “meeting our firm commitments in respect of Northern Ireland”, she will say.

“For all of us who care about our country, for all of us who want this union of nations to thrive, that duty goes to the heart of what it means to be a United Kingdom, and what it means to be a government,” Ms May will say.

Urging the EU to “evolve their position in kind”, she will add: “On that basis, I look forward to resuming constructive discussions.”

The prime minister will also promise to “restore devolution” – 18 months after power-sharing collapsed at Stormont – but the briefed remarks from her speech did not explain how progress can be achieved.