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Brexit Plan Revealed: Telegraph Obtains Proposal Boris Johnson Will Send to Brussels
2019-10-02 00:28:38.571 GMT

By Peter Foster, Europe Editor

(Telegraph) — Boris Johnson will on Wednesday unveil a radical
new ‘two borders for four years’ Brexit plan which will leave
Northern Ireland in a special relationship with Europe until
2025, The Telegraph can reveal.

The plan, which was briefed to major EU capitals on Tuesday, will
accept the need for both a regulatory border between the UK and
Northern Ireland in the Irish Sea for four years – and customs
checks between Ulster and the Republic of Ireland.

The UK’s proposed replacement for the existing Irish backstop is
expected to face fierce opposition from EU leaders who will be
asked to grant the UK sweeping exemptions from EU customs rules
to facilitate a Northern Irish customs border.

The plan effectively means that Northern Ireland will remain in
large parts of the EU single market until at least 2025 – but
will leave the EU customs union alongside the rest of the UK.

After four years, the Northern Irish Assembly will be free to
choose whether to remain aligned to the EU in the future or
return to following British rules, which by this time are
expected to have diverged from Brussels.

The proposal is likely to meet intense opposition from the Irish
government, and other parts of the EU who will claim it risks
violating both the Good Friday Agreement and the integrity of the
single market.

The precise details of the plan were obtained by The Telegraph as
Mr Johnson prepared to deliver his maiden speech as leader to the
Tory Party conference in Manchester.

The Prime Minister is expected to describe the proposed deal as a
"fair and reasonable compromise" which has been drawn up after 70
days of negotiations. A formal legal text will be sent to
Brussels later on Wednesday.

In his conference speech, Mr Johnson is expected to say: "Voters
are desperate for us to focus on their other priorities – what
people want, what leavers want, what remainers want, what the
whole world wants – is to move on.

"Corbyn wants to turn the whole of 2020 – which should be a great
year for this country – into the chaos and cacophony of two more
referendums – a second referendum on Scottish independence, even
though the people of Scotland were promised that the 2014 vote
would be a once in a generation vote, and a second referendum on
the EU, even though we were promised that the 2016 vote would be
a once in a generation vote."

He will add: "I am afraid that after three and a half years
people are beginning to feel that they are being taken for fools.
They are beginning to suspect that there are forces in this
country that simply don’t want Brexit delivered at all. And if
they turn out to be right in that suspicion then I believe there
will be grave consequences for trust in democracy."

It is understood that Dominic Cummings, the prime minister's key
strategist, has warned top advisers that the UK was prepared to
walk away if the EU did not engage seriously with the offer.

“To be clear we won’t be hanging around waiting for them to
negotiate with us,” he told a meeting of senior advisers. “If
they reject our offer, that’s it.”

The Prime Minister said the exact plans for customs checks will
be subject to "tough" negotiation although Number 10 has played
down reports that there would be new centres located a few miles
from the Irish border.

In an interview on Tuesday night Mr Johnson conceded that customs
checks “away from the border” were inevitable if the EU stuck to
its red lines.

“If the EU is going to insist on customs checks as we come out,
then we will have to accept that reality,” he told the BBC.

“There will have to be a system, for customs checks away from the
border. Now, we think those checks can be absolutely minimal and
non-intrusive and won't involve new infrastructure."

This flies in the face of repeated warnings from the EU that any
alternative to the Irish backstop must deliver a ‘fully open’
border in Ireland, protect North-South co-operation and not
create a backdoor into the EU single market.

EU sources warned that there was no sign that senior EU leaders
like Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, were prepared to
undermine the EU single market in order to help Mr Johnson
deliver Brexit.

Sounding a warning against the reported proposals the Irish
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar accused the British government of failing
to listen to Northern Irish industry and trade groups who had
rejected the idea of any customs checks.

"People here don't want a customs border between north and south
and no British government should seek to impose customs posts
against the will of the people on the island of Ireland,” he
said.

The delivery of the UK’s alternative to the Irish backstop will
be accompanied by a flurry of diplomatic activity as Mr Johnson
seeks to make good on his ‘do or die’ promise to deliver Brexit
by October 31.

The proposal requires the EU to immediately dispense with its
longstanding demand for a ‘fully open’ border in Ireland after
Brexit; grant exemptions from EU customs rules and make deep
compromises over the rules governing the EU single market.

A legal text will be sent to the EU’s chief negotiator Michel
Barnier in Brussels on Wednesday where EU sources officials had
already dismissed the UK’s leaked plans for customs clearance
areas.

The delivery of the text will mark a final push for a deal ahead
of the October EU leaders’ summit in two weeks’ time, with senior
EU officials warning on Tuesday night that the chances of a deal
were at “very, very low”.

Elements of the British deal, particularly the creation of two
borders, are understood to have puzzled senior European diplomats
and officials.

“The proposal means you need to do declarations for goods flowing
between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and manage a new
border between North and South,” said a source familiar with the
contents. “It leaves Northern Ireland marooned, with frictionless
trade with no-one.”

Under the terms of the UK proposal, Northern Ireland would
continue to follow all EU single market rules for agricultural
and industrial goods for four years after the end of the
‘transition’ period in 2021.

During that period, as the UK diverged from EU rules having
signed a Free Trade Agreement with the EU, it would be necessary
for there to be declarations for goods travelling from Great
Britain into Northern Ireland.

At the end of the four year period, Northern Ireland would be
free to either accept a harder border with Ireland by moving
closer to Great Britain’s trading arrangements, or continue with
its ‘two borders’ arrangement if the Northern Ireland assembly
agreed.

It was also unclear on Tuesday night whether unionist politicians
in Northern Ireland would support the proposal when the extent of
the required checks across the Irish Sea became clear.

However the offer of a four-year time limit on the proposed
alignment with Europe, along with a mechanism for Northern
Ireland institutions to consent to any continued alignment after
2025, was widely viewed as a significant concession to DUP
opinion.

-0- Oct/02/2019 00:28 GMT