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Britain’s Brexit talks with EU on verge of collapse

Brexit talks between Britain and the European Union teetered on the verge of collapse on Tuesday, with tit-for-tat claims of intransigence and sabotage before an end-October deadline.

Brexit talks between Britain and the European Union teetered on the verge of collapse on Tuesday, with tit-for-tat claims of intransigence and sabotage before an end-October deadline.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as he tried to salvage new divorce terms he has proposed ahead of next week’s pivotal EU summit in Brussels.

Unusually, Downing Street then provided a readout of what Merkel allegedly said, provoking an incendiary tweet from EU Council President Donald Tusk.

According to London, Merkel demanded a rewrite of Britain’s approach to the long-vexing Irish border problem that made a compromise “essentially impossible”.

The Downing Street official quoted Merkel as saying that a deal now looked “overwhelming unlikely”, and added that the Brexit talks were “close to breaking down”.

Britain has been trying for more than three years to find a way to deliver on the result of a 2016 referendum and end its almost five-decade involvement in the European project.

Riding a wave of British frustrations with the saga, Johnson is threatening to leave at any cost — with or without a withdrawal deal — on October 31.

In Berlin, Merkel’s office said it would not comment “on such confidential discussions”. Johnson’s official spokesman also declined to say anything about the substance of the call.

But he told reporters the pair had a “frank exchange” — diplomatic speak for a disagreement.

The further spokesman rejected Tusk’s blunt accusation that Johnson was playing “some stupid blame game” by having his office leak the detail of private talks.

A frustrated Tusk accused Britain of playing with “the future of Europe and the UK” with no clear plan of what the country wanted.

Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said he found it “hard to disagree” with Tusk, stressing that Dublin would “not strike a deal at any cost”.

Johnson talked to his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar for 40 minutes. “Both sides strongly reiterated their desire to reach a Brexit deal,” a Downing Street spokesman said.

The pair could meet in person later this week, he added.

No-deal planning
Although Johnson’s Brexit negotiators were still meeting various European officials, much of the focus is shifting to what happens after the talks are formally pronounced dead.

The Irish government published a 2020 spending plan with a 1.2-billion-euro ($1.3 billion) relief fund based on the assumption that there will be no agreement.

The UK government also released updated preparations for a “no deal” exit at the end of the month, indicating it was increasingly expecting the outcome.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank, however, warned that “even a relatively benign no-deal Brexit” would see Britain’s debt burden surge to 50-year highs.

On the markets, the pound slipped to its lowest value against the euro in about a month.

Johnson, who took over from Theresa May in July, has been accused of political manoeuvring before calling a snap general election to strengthen his position in parliament.

On Tuesday, the government suspended the legislature from Wednesday until October 14, when Queen Elizabeth II will set out the government’s legislative domestic agenda.

Border dispute
Johnson’s proposals outline a new way to avoid a hard border between EU member the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit.

It would take the British province of Northern Ireland out of the EU’s customs union but keep it largely aligned with the bloc’s “single market” standards and regulations.

EU officials said this would not remove the need for customs checks — a deal-breaker because it jeopardises the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

That agreement effectively created an invisible border between north and south, satisfying republicans who want a united Ireland and unionists who want to keep the status quo.

Finding a way to keep the border open without keeping at least a part of the United Kingdom tied to EU trade rules has long been the main sticking point in the talks.

Harden Britain’s position
Downing Street officials say Brussels is making a big mistake because failure in the coming days to reach a deal would result in Britain’s position only hardening down the line.

One source in Johnson’s office told The Spectator magazine the government will try to “do all sorts of things” to prevent another Brexit delay should negotiations really collapse.

Scotland’s top civil court is due to rule Wednesday whether someone else — possibly a judge — could sign an extension request if Johnson fails to follow parliament’s order to ask for one if there is still no deal by October 19.

But should a delay still be granted at the EU summit, Johnson will campaign for a “no-deal” in any snap election, the Downing Street source told The Spectator.

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