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The UK is considering giving Northern Ireland joint UK and European Union status so it can trade freely with both in an effort to break the Brexit deadlock.

The government has considered proposing a 10-mile (16-km)- wide trade buffer zone along the border for local traders like dairy farmers after the UK leaves the bloc.

The plan is one of several ideas being discussed and may not be proposed to the EU, according to a government official.

But the plans are likely to be given short shrift by the DUP who are propping up the Tory government as they oppose any plan that sees the province operate under different regulations to the rest of the United Kingdom.

Both the UK and the EU are committed to keeping a free flow of people and goods over the Irish border without returning to checkpoints - symbols of the three decades of violence in the region largely ended by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

(Image: PA)

However, finding a practical solution for any customs checks needed after Brexit is proving elusive.

The government is considering a special economic zone that will mean traders, who constitute 90 percent of cross-border traffic, can operate under the same rules as those south of the border, according to The Sun newspaper, which first reported that the idea was being considered.

May previously pledged to take the UK out of the EU customs union by considering two options.

One would be "max fac" in which the UK and EU would be entirely separate customs areas but would try to use technology to reduce friction and costs at the border.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

The other option being considered is a "customs partnership", according to which the UK would collect tariffs on the EU's behalf with no requirement of declarations of goods crossing the border.

EU officials are warning time is running out to seal a Brexit deal this year because there has been not enough progress in negotiations.

And they blame Theresa May for failing to come up with a solution to the Irish border problem.

They have already rejected both of the Tories' solutions - and there is no sign they would accept the latest proposal.

Earlier this month the government suggested it would be willing to extend the use of EU tariffs as a backstop if there were delays in ratification of a Brexit deal.

But it made it clear that it did not want to use that option.

Best for Britain champion Virendra Sharma MP said: "With these latest proposals anyone would think the government is making this up as they going along.

"They are desperate for any solution, no matter how fantastical, to appease Tory right wingers.

"Even though it doesn't pass basic scrutiny they don't seem to care. Rees Mogg is calling the shots at the moment and the government are just doing his bidding."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Exiting the European Union declined to comment.