High-level talks seek customs solution

The Government has failed to rule out the possibility of setting up special warehouses to take customs checks away from the border in a no-deal Brexit scenario.

High-level discussions between Ireland, the UK, and the EU on preparing for the impact of a no-deal Brexit are underway. However, officials have refused to provide further details other than to say these talks are at a “preliminary” stage. Cabinet discussed a number of issues relating to Brexit, including access to the landbridge and ICT changes yesterday, with all departments prioritising preparations in their own areas.

Asked about moving checks from along the border to warehouses, a Government spokesperson said: “I am not going to go there.”

He added that discussing the possibility of having checks away from the border would be “entering the area of conjecture”.

“The principal goal of the Government is to find a way to avoid a hard border,” the spokesperson said.

It comes as British prime minister Theresa May faces another testing day with MPs taking part in a series of indicative votes on what kind of Brexit has a chance of winning the support of the House of Commons.

Ms May will also face members of her own Conservative party at a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee this morning as she battles to save her premiership and her Brexit deal.

While leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg yesterday suggested he could now back the withdrawal agreement, there are still doubts over whether Ms May will have enough support to bring her deal back before the House of Commons this week.

After a marathon Cabinet meeting lasting more than two hours, Ms May’s official spokesman said yesterday: “If we are able to hold and win a vote this week, we would then be able to leave the EU in less than two months’ time with a deal, which the prime minister firmly believes is what the public wants.”

The spokesperson said this vote would have to be held this week in order to guarantee meeting the terms set by the EU for the extension of Article 50 to the new Brexit day on May 22.

Tory Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said Ms May was having ongoing talks “so that we can, if possible this week, approve the deal and guarantee Brexit”.

She also indicated that the Commons’ Easter recess, due to begin on April 5, could be cancelled to provide more time to find a way forward or pass the necessary legislation and “the country will rightly expect parliament to be working flat out in either scenario”.

So far, the DUP has given no firm indication it will end its opposition to the deal. However, DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson yesterday suggested that a long extension to Article 50, keeping the UK in the EU, was a better option than the Ms May’s withdrawal agreement, even if it meant leaving without a deal at the end.

Meanwhile, an agreement to allow Irish trucks to continue to use the landbridge through the UK, even in the case of a hard Brexit, has been reached. Cabinet was told that the Common Transit Convention will permit access to mainland Britain after the UK leaves the EU.