UK offer of trade regulations ‘hollow’

Any offer by Theresa May’s government in the crunch Brexit talks that merely involved regulations and standards for trade would still lead to a hard border in Ireland and should be rejected outright by Dublin, one of the country’s leading EU experts has warned.

Edgar Morgenroth, of the Economic and Social Research Institute, said that an apparent London “concession” for a so-called “no regulatory change” agreement for goods entering the North after the UK leaves the EU, as a way to lift a possible Irish veto over the Brexit talks, would prove to be hollow and highly dangerous.

“What is apparently being put forward by the British does not deal with the border issue. I would be worried that someone is going to accept that [offer] because we will still end up with a hard border,” Prof Morgenroth told the Irish Examiner.