Boris Johnson is doing a round of media interviews this morning, and he is bound to be asked about an important Brexit story that broke last night. The UK government is due to present the EU with detailed plans for a replacement to the backstop within days and last night the Irish broadcaster RTE published a leak of plans, saying the UK wants to have customs clearance sites in Ireland, five to 10 miles away from the border to the north and the south. The Irish government has called the plans a “non-starter”.
- Here is my colleague Lisa O’Carroll’s overnight story about the leak of the plans.
And here is how Lisa’s story starts.
Boris Johnson’s secret plans to solve the Irish border Brexit challenge involve customs sites on both sides of the border and real-time tracking devices on lorries, it has been reported.
The ideas, which mark a departure from his promise not to put infrastructure on the border, are part of four unofficial papers submitted by the UK to Brussels by Johnson’s team.
The broadcaster RTÉ, which has had sight of the the tightly guarded proposals, is reporting that customs clearance sites would be sited five to 10 miles from the border to the north and the south to deal with imports and exports.
Traders would have the choice of lodging their papers at these sites, similar to the ones that existed before the single market came into existence, or electing to be tracked electronically in an online “transit” arrangement.
- Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister and deputy prime minister, has rejected the proposals.
Simon Coveney
(@simoncoveney)Non-Paper = Non-Starter. Time the EU had a serious proposal from the UK Govt if a #Brexit deal is to be achievable in October. NI and IRE deserves better!
- Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, has said the plans leaked to RTE are just “preliminary documents”.
Tamara Cohen
(@tamcohen)Buckland on Ireland’s rejection of the draft proposals:
“They’re v much preliminary documents and only cover a part of the arrangements of the Irish border… not the be all and end all”.
Part of the process not the final piece of the jigsaw
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: The conference opens with a session on stronger communities, followed by a session celebrating “the Conservative party in action”, hosted by Lord Dobbs and Iain Dale.
2pm: A session on social justice in action.
2.45pm: Shaun Bailey, the Tory mayoral candidate for London, speaks.
3pm: Session on criminal justice, with speeches from Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, and
3.45pm: Priti Patel, the home secretary speaks.
As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web, although I will be focusing almost exclusively on the Conservative conference. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
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