UK Edition
The EU will have officials stationed in Northern Ireland from January 1 in a major concession that rang alarm bells with Brexiteers ahead of Boris Johnson’s make or break trip to Brussels on Wednesday.
Britain has until now rebuffed EU demands for a permanent office in Northern Ireland, but backed down as part of a deal to settle outstanding disputes over the Brexit “divorce” deal.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said the move was “unnecessary” and “concerning”, while senior Brexiteers warned the Prime Minister they would be “watching” to make sure he does not give too much away when he meets the European Commission President.
Mr Johnson will have dinner with Ursula von der Leyen and attempt to resolve the remaining issues standing in the way of a trade deal, over fishing rights, level playing field guarantees, and governance of any deal.
A senior Government source played down any suggestion that the dinner could be the moment a deal is agreed, saying: “It’s clear that some political impetus will be required for the talks to make any more progress.
“If we can make progress at a political level it may allow Lord Frost and his team to resume negotiations over the coming days.
“But we must be realistic that an agreement may not be possible as we will not compromise on reclaiming UK sovereignty.”
EU sources said there was now “positive momentum” for a trade deal after Mr Johnson withdrew a threat to break the terms of the Brexit divorce agreement.
Mr Johnson, seen below as the first UK citizens were given the coronavirus vaccine, said “hope springs eternal” ahead of his trip to Belgium but warned there might come a time when he had to “draw stumps”.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, rated the chances of a deal as “slim”.
Sources in Brussels and Downing Street also hinted that negotiations could carry on beyond this week, raising the prospect of Parliament having to sit between Christmas and New Year’s Eve to ratify any deal.
Under an agreement reached by Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove and his EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic, the Government will remove clauses in a Bill passing through Parliament that would have broken the terms of the EU Withdrawal Agreement.
Ministers had admitted the clauses in the Internal Market Bill would have broken international law in a “specific and limited way” and the EU had said it could not agree a trade deal if the controversial law passed.
Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic agreed that 90 per cent of goods crossing the Irish Sea will not be subject to any EU tariffs in the event of a no deal Brexit. Some animal and meat products will be subject to tariffs if they are deemed to be “at risk” of being sold in Ireland, which is part of the EU.
The tariffs will then be refunded if the goods stay in Northern Ireland.
The EU also agreed to drop proposals that would have allowed it to object to mainland firms with a presence in Northern Ireland from receiving state aid.
In return, the UK agreed that EU border inspectors could have a “permanent presence” in Northern Ireland with the right to inspect goods crossing the Irish Sea without warning or permission, according to EU sources.
Under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol in the Withdrawal Agreement, Northern Ireland is treated differently from the rest of the UK in order to prevent a hard border with Ireland.
A UK Government source said: "The EU sought a 'mini embassy'. They withdrew that. The EU do have the right under the Protocol to supervise processes conducted by UK authorities, which we will of course support, but there will be no mini-embassy, no mission, no building with a flag or brass plaque."
However, the DUP's Westminster leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: “We don’t see the need for any permanent presence of EU officials in Northern Ireland. It’s our view that this is unnecessary.
“We obviously are concerned but we will have to see the detail of this agreement when it is published.”
The Tory MP Sir Bill Cash, the chairman of the European Security Committee, warned Mr Johnson that British sovereignty must be maintained “at any price”.
Brexiteers will not accept any deal that keeps Britain tied to future EU rules and regulations as part of a so-called level playing field guarantee being sought by Brussels as the price of access to the single market.
Sir Bill said: “We will be watching all these matters with great diligence and with a constructive approach because I trust...there'll be no impairment of our sovereignty of the United Kingdom, which is what this is all about.”
Government sources said the deal brokered by Michael Gove made no “material difference” to the entirely separate negotiations over a trade deal, but there was optimism in Brussels last night that it could have a “positive” effect on those talks.
Ms von der Leyen said she was “delighted” at the agreement in principle over the Withdrawal Agreement, while Mr Sefcovic said the decision to drop the controversial clauses on the Internal Market Bill removed a "major obstacle" to the trade deal and could “create positive momentum”.
The Commission's chief spokesman said the EU was willing to continue discussions "for as long as necessary" before the transition period ends on December 31, adding that negotiators would resume talks if a political breakthrough could be found by Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen.
Downing Street would only say that negotiations had to end by the end of the year.
Mr Johnson said: “The situation at the moment is very tricky. Our friends have just got to understand the UK has left the EU in order to be able to exercise democratic control over the way we do things.
"But hope springs eternal, I will do my best to sort it out if we can."
He said he hoped the “power of sweet reason” would win the day but “there are just limits beyond which no sensible, independent government or country could go” and at some point it might be “time to draw stumps” and accept that a deal is impossible.