Theresa May’s Chequers deal suffers blow after key DUP allies back alternative plan from Brexit hardliners
The DUP has thrown their support behind Jacob Rees-Mogg's European Research Group's plan to avoid a Hard Border
THERESA May’s troubled Chequers deal was dealt a fresh blow last night after her key Northern Irish allies backed an alternative plan put forward by Brexit hardliners.
The DUP threw their support behind the Brexiteers complex ideas at how the Irish border could work - despite critics branding their vision a “bureaucratic nightmare.”
Following the Tories 2017 Election disaster, Mrs May needs the DUP’s ten MPs to give her a working majority - casting doubt on whether she will be able to get her soft Brexit blueprint through the Commons.
Yesterday Jacob Rees Mogg’s European Research Group finally unveiled their long awaited alternative ideas on how to avoid a Hard Border after weeks of pressure from Downing Street.
Britain would offer a slow drift from Brussels rules on goods but heap red tape on small businesses. There would be “equivalence” of UK and EU regulations for the safety of agricultural products and the UK would allow Brussels inspectors into Northern Ireland to check their implementation.
Goods would be checked at the point of origin and at the point of sale rather than on border. And tiny firms currently exempt would be asked “voluntarily” sign up to VAT in order to track goods shipped across the Irish border.
Setting out their “novel” alternative plan, the Brexiteers admitted their solutions were “not ideal” but they insisted they would solve the border headache.
Flanked by Lord Trimble, the architect of the Good Friday Agreement, former Brexit Secretary David Davis and two ex-Northern Ireland Secretaries said their plan was “fabulously practical” solution in partnership with a Canada style free trade deal with Brussels.
But Owen Paterson was left red faced after claiming the “boring” paper contained “very little new”.
DUP chief Nigel Dodds said last night that the ERG paper contained “sensible practical measures which can ensure there will be no hard border.”
But Downing Street hit back to say: “We don’t believe that the answer is to move the border.”
A spokesman added: “People want to live their lives as they do now and that is what the Chequers plan delivers.”
Later a Whitehall source told The Sun the ERG plan would “hit small business hard” as they were a “bureaucratic nightmare.”
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