Positive noises on a Brexit deal just flatter to deceive

World of Politics with Harry McGee

For a moment there, we were almost convinced we had rapid forward movement – until we realised all it was the air escaping from the Brexit balloon. It did a few loop-the-loops and then nosedived to a deflated end.  We were full of hope after the Wirral when Leo Varadkar hinted he had found a ‘path’ to a possible deal on Brexit. What he neglected to say was the path was over-grown and full of briars and nettles, with the odd snake lurking in the undergrowth.

So will something give; as we go to press the European summit in Brussels in still in full flow, and there’s no better place for a lastminute.com deal.

It’s not impossible – but it’s going to be very difficult.

The customs solution Boris Johnson is offering is, well, unworkable. The head of the EU’s task force Michel Barnier described it as perplexing. The rest of us are well and truly bamboozled.

In a nutshell, Johnson wants the whole of the UK out of the customs union. That includes Northern Ireland. But the six counties will have a special status, a kind of a hybrid situation when it comes to customs.

Goods going into Northern Ireland will be taken as entering the UK customs area. But if they are then going on to Ireland, the customs regime and rates that will apply will be those of the EU. For Northern Ireland traders if the EU custom rate is higher, they will be entitled to a rebate.

But that means that for all goods entering Northern Ireland you will have to know their final destination to apply the correct customs rate. So everything will have to be tracked.

But as the EU has pointed out, modern supply chains are so complex that will be impossible to do. And what if the good changes form and is then exported to the EU.

The example was given of sugar going into the North, being used as an ingredient in fizzy drinks, which are then sent onto the EU. How do you track that and apply the rate? The EU has argued there was the potential for fraud.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app

The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City  and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.