Boris Johnson’s first concrete proposal for replacing the Irish backstop has hit the buffers in the latest “disastrous” meeting between the prime minister’s chief negotiator and the EU.
In a heavily trailed move, Johnson’s envoy, David Frost, proposed an all-Ireland food standards zone on Friday, but the UK is also seeking to give the Stormont assembly a say on whether it would continue in the years ahead.
The attempt to give the proposed arrangement what British officials have described as democratic legitimacy by involving politicians in Northern Ireland was firmly knocked back by the EU. European commission negotiators said such a proposal would leave Ireland in a constant state of uncertainty over the future.
The development comes as EU sources close to the negotiation spoke of their doubts about the potential fruitfulness of the talks given the likelihood of a general election and the insistence from the prime minister that his negotiating position has been wrecked by no deal being taken off the table.
EU officials involved in the negotiations are understood to have lamented that Frost has been acting “like a spokesman” for the prime minister, saying that Theresa May’s envoy, Olly Robbins, had at least been able to talk around the problems encountered in the talks.
EU sources said the commission would continue to meet with the British delegation for as long as Downing Street wished.
Johnson is insisting in his attempted renegotiation that the Irish backstop, which would keep Northern Ireland in the single market and the whole of the UK in a customs union to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, must be ditched from the withdrawal agreement.
Johnson has floated the idea of Northern Ireland staying aligned with EU standards on agrifoods, which make up a large proportion of the trade crossing the border with the Republic. Such a move would remove the need for sanitary and phytosanitary checks (SPS) on animals and animal products crossing the border on the island of Ireland, although all other goods would not be covered and it would not deal with the issues of VAT and customs checks.
Earlier in the week Johnson had referenced the comments of the former Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley who had said of Northern Ireland that the people were British but “the cattle were Irish”.
Johnson is insisting, in a move designed to make the proposal palatable to the DUP, that the arrangement would have to “clearly enjoy the consent of all parties and institutions with an interest”.
It is understood the UK has suggested there is a need for Stormont to be able to vote on the continuation of the proposed common regulatory area, which has been described by EU officials as a “backstop-lite”.
EU sources said the suggestion was firmly rebuffed and that recent meetings had been a “disaster”, with the gap between the two negotiating teams seemingly widening by the day.
Sources said the discussion over the common agrifood area was “cursory” and further discussions over the UK’s preferred alternative to the backstop were expected next week.
Irish government sources reacted angrily to Johnson’s gambit, saying the protection of the all-Ireland economy was a vital element of the Good Friday agreement, and that the responsibility for protecting the peace process lay with Westminster and not the Northern Ireland assembly.
The UK government also sought to find a role for the Northern Ireland assembly in the future negotiations over the shared agrifood zone but an EU diplomat said there was a high degree of scepticism.
The source said: “The EU negotiates with the UK authorities at the departing stage and not its constituent elements.
“Having Stormont overturn an agreed and ratified agreement at a later stage prior to the backstop entering into force will undermine the withdrawal. A curious ask given the fact that currently Stormont hasn’t sat for over two years?”
A UK government spokesman said: “The prime minister’s sherpa David Frost and a cross-government team met officials from the commission’s A50 taskforce today.
“The UK team presented some preliminary ideas on how any all-island SPS solutions could involve the consent of all parties and institutions with an interest – something the prime minister referred to earlier this week in parliament. The discussions highlighted a number of issues which would need to be considered further and it was agreed that this would be discussed again next week.”
