Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said that a Brexit deal may be released by next Wednesday.
Barnier has announced that approximately 80-85% of the deal has been agreed upon and he promised Brussels that these arrangements would not undermine the UK’s “constitutional integrity”.
He has declared that checks on animal related products travelling between the Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK must increase tenfold.
At the moment, around 10% of the movements are monitored but bar codes on the products would have to be scanned.
Barnier said: “I understand those checks are politically sensitive but Brexit was the UK’s choice – not the EU’s”. The UK could have eliminated those checks if it remained within the customs union, however Theresa May has ruled this idea out.
More importantly, Barnier said that the deal would be “within reach by Wednesday 17 October”.
He also stated, “Brexit has no added value- it is a lose-lose game”.
Former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, stated that the backstop “makes the UK a permanent EU colony” and subsequently tweeted “this is far from take back control”.
He added:
“In the referendum, both sides said Leave meant leaving the customs union and single market. Yet this backstop inevitably means Chequers, staying in both, no say in either, and no right to escape. Number 10 must chuck Chequers now.”
