Border riddle continues to perplex leaders

Ireland has secured a backstop to prevent a hard border in the North but the deal will likely come back to haunt the Brexit talks and, like a riddle, will have to be solved one way or another.

This was the dilemma posed by Austria at the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels yesterday: Essentially, how can Britain have its cake and eat it?

By leaving the EU and the Customs Union and the Single Market — the rules and regulations that govern trade and movement — how can London expect to have all the benefits of free trade?