Brexit negotiations on the customs union and trade are “highly unsatisfactory” according to the Exiting the European Union Committee in its latest report to the UK parliament. “Ministers have yet to agree, and set out in detail, what kind of trading and customs arrangements they wish to seek in negotiations with the European Union.”

Issued on 24 May 2018, the report notes that, “Neither the maximum facilitation proposal, nor the new customs partnership, if agreed, is likely to be ready in time during the 21-month transition/implementation period.” Apparently, the UK prime minister has alluded to some kind of contingency plan but has yet to set down what this means.

Hilary Benn, chairman of the Exiting the European Union committee, has expressed his concern saying: “We are rapidly running out of time to get new trade and customs arrangements in place,” and suggested that the UK will have no other option but to, “remain in a customs union with the EU until alternative arrangements can be put in place.”

However, the UK government has stated that it must maintain a frictionless border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, with no “physical infrastructure or related checks and controls.”

This issue has massive implications for the UK’s future economic relationship with the EU, as well as for the scope of any future trade agreements that the UK wishes to strike with other countries. Not only that, but Herman Von Rompuy, former president of the European council, said recently in Luxembourg (as reported on Delano here), it is not just about trade deals. “We are not just talking about trade deals here, we are talking about peace. Don’t forget the more than 3,500 people who were killed during the troubles.”

According to the report, with regards the Irish question, the UK government and European Commission agreed in the Joint Report of December 2017 that the border issue should be resolved, “…in a Phase 1 Withdrawal Agreement as it cannot be left until after the UK has left the EU.” However, Theresa May has rejected the proposal on the grounds that it would threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK by creating an economic border in the Irish Sea. She has said that the government will present its own proposal “soon”.