Brexit talks could be salvaged with THIS idea says expert - but Brexiteers won’t like it
A BORDER expert insists Northern Ireland will need to operate within the single market after Brexit to allow the UK to successfully negotiate its withdrawal from the European Union.
Anthony Soares: Northern Ireland need single market access
Anthony Spares, deputy director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies, said allowing the country to retain access to the internal market will solve a sticking point in the Brexit talks.
Brussels chief Jean-Claude Juncker identified three priorities for the first phase of the negotiations - EU nationals living in the UK, a Brexit divorce bill to be paid by the UK and avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Mr Spares is calling for Theresa May to consider two options - allowing free movement between Northern Ireland and south of the border, which is an EU member state, or letting Northern Ireland keep access to the single market.
He said: “We’re proposing two models for the post-Brexit context. One which allows for the free movement of people and goods between the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland and between the island of Ireland and Great Britain.
Anthony Spares said Northern Ireland would need single market access after Brexit
Another model that would include allowing Northern Ireland access to the EU single market
“Another model that would include allowing Northern Ireland access to the EU single market.
“What we’re proposing is certainly ambitious but we hope that with those concerned, adopting a flexible and creative approach to the negotiations, it may have some potential.”
Meanwhile, the Irish Prime Minister has struck a note of doom over Brexit saying that it could “every single aspect of life” in Northern Ireland.
Leo Varadkar, 38, described Brexit as "the challenge of this generation”, saying that it could affect “every single aspect of life in Northern Ireland” during his first official visit to the country.
He also signalled he was prepared to delay the ongoing Brexit talks unless he was satisfied with any post-Brexit agreement over the issue of the Irish border.
The 27 countries that are still in the European Union are due to hold talks in October to decide whether or not enough progress has been made on the divorce settlement to allow trade talks to begin with the UK.