DEAL ON?
Boris Johnson hints a Brexit deal WILL happen as he talks up chances of transition period keeping us in the bloc for ‘a couple of years’
BORIS Johnson has talked up the chances of a deal as he stressed that Britain could remain in the EU customs union and single market for another "couple of years".
During a visit to Wales, the new Prime Minister indicated a transition period could be utilised after Britain leaves the European Union on October 31.
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Brussels has said a period where Britain stays in the customs union and single market after we leave is only possible if we leave with Theresa May's deal.
But Boris has been talking up the idea of a "stand-still" agreement where things stay the same anyway - even without the ex-PM's hated agreement.
The suggestion is a hint that Boris still thinks some sort of deal with the EU is possible in the run up to October 31.
That will mean that the country would avoid sudden changes where Britain comes out of all the EU's institutions at once.
Boris said yesterday: "Some of the (No Deal) changes that are going to be necessary in the run-up to October 31 will be crucial anyway if we are going to come out of the customs union and single market, as we must, in the course of the next couple of years."
A Whitehall source later : "There has been a big shift.
"In the past there was a lot of money for No Deal which would have been written off if we had got the former PM's deal because it was very close to the customs union and single market.
"Now we are looking at something much more like Canada plus, so we will need a new customs regime and so on regardless because our future relationship will be much looser."
In recent days Boris' top team have ramped up the pressure on the EU by boosting our No Deal planning, ready to get us out without an agreement if we have to.
But the PM has insisted he doesn't want to leave with nothing at all.
BORIS WARNS NO DEAL WOULD BE EU'S FAULT
The two sides are still at loggerheads over the hated Northern Irish border - which Boris wants scrapped.
Mr Johnson told Irish leader Leo Varadkar to “abolish the backstop” yesterday as he warned that a No Deal Brexit would be the EU’s fault.
Dramatically stepping up his game of chicken with Brussels, the new PM said the Irish border insurance plan had to go if a Brexit agreement was to be struck by October 31.
In a 15-minute phone call that revealed the huge shift in approach from No10, he insisted that Britain would be leaving in three months “no matter what”.
Mr Varadkar countered there wasn't a chance that the EU would change its stance.
But the PM piled on the pressure by saying there was “no way” the backstop would get through the House of Commons.
He said: “If the EU understands that, I think we are going to be at the races.
“If they can’t compromise, then clearly we have to get ready for a No Deal exit.
“It’s up to the EU, this is their call if they really want us to do this.”
Mr Johnson — who visited a poultry farm in South Wales yesterday — has been urged to threaten to slap tariffs on Irish goods coming into the UK in the event of a No Deal.
The DUP’s Sammy Wilson called for the move on the eve of a politically-charged trip by the PM to Northern Ireland today.
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He told The Sun: “The previous (Theresa May) administration thought that if they were nice they’d get a deal.
“But the nicer they were the more the EU and Ireland put the boot into them.
“Boris has to show Britain is not an easy touch anymore.”
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