Sterling recovered earlier today but quickly pared gains after EU pour more cold water on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s proposal. EU Budget Commissioners Guenther Oettinger said the latest offer did “not represent a satisfactory solution”. He also insisted that Irish backstop cannot be subject to a time limit or be at risk of being vetoed by a third party.
Northern Irish party Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on the other hand, is dissatisfied with the rumored counter offer from EU. It’s said EU is ready to give the assembly a say over post-Brexit customs checks on the Irish border, but only via a double majority. DUP chief whip Jeffrey Donaldson also said “This creates a customs border between Northern Ireland and our biggest market in Great Britain. Economic madness. DUP has been clear in opposition to this. It’s the NI only Backstop reheated and represents no real compromise.”
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar also said yesterday that ” it will be very difficult to secure an agreement by next week, quite frankly”. “Essentially what the United Kingdom has done is repudiated the deal that we negotiated in good faith with Prime Minister May’s government over two years and has sort of put half of that now back on the table and are saying that’s a concession and of course it isn’t really. There are two big gaps.”
