Ireland set to back UK customs proposal

The Irish Government is prepared to help British prime minister Theresa May push her customs partnership proposal, but will not give an inch on last December’s backstop agreement.

Senior Government sources have indicated that the Dublin negotiating team, led by Tánaiste Simon Coveney, has deliberately escalated the stakes ahead of June’s make-or-break summit in order to force some progress on the Irish issue.

The British government is said to be examining the possibility of the UK as a whole remaining aligned to the EU customs union for several years to come as a way of resolving the dilemma over its future relationship with the EU and drawing some of the controversy out of the Irish “backstop” obligation,