Britain - Brexit: Customs Union at Centre of compromise talks

Brexit: customs union at centre of compromise talks ahead of crucial EU summit

 Note EU Digest : The problem is that Theresa May has not been able to put a concrete proposal together supported by a parliamentary majority in the British parliament, and keeps wasting EU members time and finances discussing "pies in the sky".

It is high time now the EU starts to play some hard ball  with Theresa May, and gives her an "indefinite extension" until she can come up with a concrete proposal, which is backed by a majority in the British parliament.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/07/brexit-uk-prime-minister-says-there-is-still-a-chance-of-a-compromise-deal

Britain - Brexit: UK plans to stay in customs union until December 2021 under new ‘backstop’ – by Benjamin Fox

The UK plans to remain in the EU’s customs union until December 2021, according to a new ‘backstop’ proposal unveiled by Teresa May, aimed at avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

After a dramatic Thursday morning (7 June)  in Westminster, during which Brexit Secretary David Davis held two crisis meetings with May and is widely believed to have threatened to resign, the government published a five-page paper setting out a ‘temporary customs arrangement’.

The proposal would mean a one-year extension to the 21-month transition period running from the moment it formally leaves the bloc next March until the end of 2020, which the UK has already agreed with the EU.

Under the proposal, UK- EU trade would be free of any tariffs, quotas, rules of origin and customs.

However, the UK would be outside the scope of the EU’s Common Commercial Policy, apart from applying the bloc’s common external tariff, and would be able to agree free trade deals with third countries.

In a bid to pacify Brexiteers, the proposal makes clear that it should be “time-limited” until a new EU-UK trade deal is in place.

Note EU-Digest: obviously it is not sure the EU will buy into that?

Read more: UK plans to stay in customs union until December 2021 under new ‘backstop’ – EURACTIV.com

Britain: Jeremy Corbyn backs permanent customs union after Brexit

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has backed the UK being in a permanent customs union with the EU in a speech setting out his approach to Brexit.

He said this would avoid the need for a "hard border" in Northern Ireland and ensure free-flowing trade for business.

The policy shift could lead to Labour siding with Tory rebels to defeat Theresa May on her Brexit strategy.

The Tories said it was "a cynical attempt" to frustrate Brexit "and play politics with our country's future".

Mr Corbyn insisted in an interview with BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg that his speech was a "firming up" of Labour's existing policy and that he did not want the UK to follow the Norway model, ending up bound by EU rules but having very little say in them.

Read More: Jeremy Corbyn backs permanent customs union after Brexit - BBC News