Theresa May is expected to return to Brussels before the end of the week, after her hopes of securing an agreement on the Irish border on Monday were dashed after an 11th-hour intervention by the DUP leader, Arlene Foster.

May's weakness exposed as DUP derails Brexit progress Read more

The prime minister will chair cabinet on Tuesday morning before a day of diplomacy with Foster and DUP MPs, in an attempt to rescue the deal needed to persuade Ireland and the other leaders of the remaining 26 EU nations at a summit next week that “sufficient progress” has been made on divorce issues to move Brexit negotiations on to the future trading relationship.

Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer was granted an urgent question to David Davis, the Brexit secretary on the progress of the negotiations, tabled after May backed out of a Commons appearance which Labour said was due to take place on Tuesday up until the Irish deal unexpectedly hit the buffers.



Quick guide Why is the Irish border a stumbling block for Brexit? Show Hide Counties and customs Inside the EU, both Ireland and Northern Ireland are part of the single market and customs union so share the same regulations and standards, allowing a soft or invisible border between the two.

Britain’s exit from the EU – taking Northern Ireland with it – risks a return to a hard or policed border. The only way to avoid this post-Brexit is for regulations on both sides to remain more or less the same in key areas including food, animal welfare, medicines and product safety. The 'backstop' in Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement was intended to address this - stating that if no future trade agreement could be reached between the EU and the UK, then rules and regulations would stay as they are. This has been rejected by Brexit supporters as a 'trap' to keep the UK in the EU's customs union, which would prevent the UK striking its own independent trade deals. There are an estimated 72m road vehicle crossings a year between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and about 14% of those crossings are consignments of goods, some of which may cross the border several times before they reach a consumer. Brexit supporters say this can be managed by doing checks on goods away from the border, but critics say it will be difficult to police this without any physical infrastructure like border posts or cameras, which could raise tensions in the divided communities of Ireland.

Interactive: A typical hour in the life of the Irish border Photograph: Design Pics Inc/Design Pics RF

Foster said her party could not accept “regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the Republic in order to avoid the need for a hard border, if that were to mean regulations diverged from the rest of the UK.

The apparent offer caused reverberations in Scotland too, where the Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, said the country must not be “divided by different deals for different home nations” and hinted her preferred option would be a single market and customs union arrangement for the whole UK.

“If regulatory alignment in specific areas is requirement for a frictionless border, then must be on a UK-wide basis,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ruth Davidson (@RuthDavidsonMSP) My position on the current Brexit negotiations: pic.twitter.com/QDNiUwduWd

The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who on Monday insisted there could be no separate deal for Northern Ireland without Scotland being offered similar, tweeted the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, on Tuesday saying the time was right for both Labour and the SNP to push for full single market membership.

The SNP leader said it was a “moment for opposition and soft Brexit Tories to force a different, less damaging approach” than the one currently being pursued by Downing Street.

Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) This could be the moment for opposition and soft Brexit/remain Tories to force a different, less damaging approach - keep the UK in the single market and customs union. But it needs Labour to get its act together. How about it @jeremycorbyn?

May had to break off from a lunch with the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, on Monday that was due to have settled the border issue for an urgent call with the DUP leader, whose party supports her minority government in Westminster.

Former DExEU minister David Jones said it had been a miscalculation by Downing Street and warned that May must not underestimate the importance of Foster’s party.

“It was a very difficult day, and there will be people in Downing Street who have regretted not making it clearer with the DUP that everything was agreed before they got on the plane to Brussels,” he said. “The prime minister has a lot of talking to do with Arlene Foster today.

Rampant optimism over Irish border deal proves entirely misplaced | Dan Roberts Read more

“We can’t ignore the parliamentary arithmetic, the DUP is what is keeping this government in power. And therefore we can’t overlook they are in a very strong political position and they have to be taken seriously.”

In an tense press conference, the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said that the deal had been agreed by the European commission, UK and the Republic, saying he was “surprised and disappointed” by May’s request for more time.



The Irish border is, however, not the only sticking point ahead of agreeing to move to phase two of the negotiations, with the EU and Britain still at odds over the issue of European court of justice jurisdiction over EU nationals living in the UK after Brexit.

On Tuesday night, other Brexit-backing Conservative MPs had lined up to echo the warning of the DUP, saying any form of regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK would be an unacceptable concession.



Theresa May must call the DUP’s bluff – this EU deal has to happen | Simon Jenkins Read more

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, told the Guardian the prime minister was “fully aware that when it comes to the border issue Northern Ireland remains an integral part of the UK and therefore there cannot be any regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.”

Jones echoed their comments on Tuesday morning. “If we are to make a success of Brexit or have Brexit at all, we need to make sure we are free to make our own trade arrangements the way that we want to,” he said. “If we want to maintain regulatory alignment with the EU that makes it very difficult if not impossible.”

Peter Ricketts, former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said the prime minister’s reputation in Brussels would have been damaged by the fallout. “It’s pretty extraordinary that this wasn’t all stitched up with the DUP beforehand,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We are used to prime ministers going to Brussels to have a row with the EU ... but to go to Brussels, to go, agree with the EU and then have a row with your own side is inconvenient.”

Ricketts said it would give EU negotiators the impression the prime minister did not have authority over her own side. “That will knock confidence in doing the final deal. We may be shown in the next few days that it all comes right but as of now, yes it’s done damage.”