Major rift between UK and Ireland dashes PM’s hopes for Brexit breakthrough A major rift between the UK and Irish governments is threatening to dash Theresa May’s hopes of achieving a breakthrough […]

A major rift between the UK and Irish governments is threatening to dash Theresa May’s hopes of achieving a breakthrough next month over Brexit.

UK and Irish officials privately admit that a serious impasse has been reached between London and Dublin over Ireland’s call for a written guarantee that there would be no “hard border” on the island of Ireland after Britain leaves the European Union.

Ireland’s EU Commissioner, Phil Hogan, warned that Dublin would “play tough to the end” over its threat to veto trade talks unless it was given guarantees over the border’s status.

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The Republic insists that either the entire UK or Northern Ireland has to remain in the single market and customs union after Brexit to ensure the “soft border” is retained.

But Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, hit back, saying: “We don’t want there to be a hard border, but the UK is going to be leaving the customs union and the single market.”

No sanctions

EU leaders have said they will not sanction launching talks on a future UK-EU trade deal unless they believe “sufficient progress” has been made on the Irish border, Britain’s ‘divorce payment’ and EU citizens’ rights.

The summit where that judgement will be made takes place on 14-15 December, leaving London and Dublin with a race against the clock to find a compromise.

One Whitehall source told i that the government “remains confident that a way through can be found”, however.

Mr Fox also argued that the issue could not be settled until agreement has been reached on the shape of the UK’s future trade deal with the bloc.

“We can’t come to a final answer to the Irish question until we get an idea of the end state,” Mr Fox told Sky News.

“And until we get into discussions with the EU on the end state that will be very difficult, so the quicker that we can do that the better and we are still in a position where the EU doesn’t want to do that.”

Troubling comments

Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness, a member of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael party, said she was “troubled” by Mr Fox’s comments.

“I hope the UK is not holding the Irish situation to ransom in these negotiations, it is far too serious and far too critical,” she told the BBC.

The Democratic Unionist Party, which is propping up Mrs May’s minority government opposes the imposition of a “hard border”.

But it is also adamant in its opposition to Northern Ireland being treated differently in any future Brexit deal from the rest of the UK.

“I regret that because it I think we should be working together because we are on this island,” she said.