Ireland is a genuinely big issue.
The first two solutions below have been viewed as unlikely leaving the fall-back option c).
The problem with option c) is that it either commits the whole of the UK to a customs union which Theresa May has ruled out or it commits to a customs union for NI only and a hard border between NI and GB. Theresa May has ruled this out as well.
a) Rich free trade agreement which would remove the Irish border issue will take years to negotiate.
b) Technological solutions - described by the EU as magical thinking.
c) "the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 (Good Friday) Agreement".
Brextremists may argue that it is Ireland that erects a hard border, but if there's no customs union in Ireland that's mandated by their beloved WTO rules.
More info here
https://news.sky.com/story/no-bluff-...waves-11270995
---------- Post added at 20:46 ---------- Previous post was at 20:36 ----------
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Originally Posted by denphone
Clueless and rudderless springs to mind...
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Great comment in the FT from a reader on how the UK could have handled Brexit. Whatever you think about Brexit, this sounds like a winning approach.
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The Pouca In very simple terms - here is what the UK should have done in these negotiations.
First, find a way to mute cretins like Boorish Johnson.
Second, come up with an outline set of terms that it thinks it could live with (without by the way announcing any 'Redlines.')
Third, draft a version of a Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Fourth, make sure that, on pain of total exile, every Conservative worth mentioning was quietly on board.
Fifth, submit the Article 50 notice - and the next day release the UK's detailed proposal and its draft of the agreement.
This is the way any intelligent negotiator would approach these things - make sure that before you start negotiations you have clearly worked out what you are asking for, and you have left no hostages (i.e., red lines) out there. It is negotiation 101.
Instead, the UK has presented an unedifying display of squabbling, internal posturing - promises made (in December) and now seems to be
proposing to renege on, while never in fact advancing any detailed and viable proposals of its own. Already in a weak position, it has effectively conceded all control over the terms of the agreement to the EU, because it cannot find a way to advance any proposal of its own that consists of more than a few hortatory slogans.
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https://www.ft.com/content/51397a80-...a-43db76e69936