Theresa May's handling of the border question could bring Brexit negotiations "crashing down", according to the UK Government's former chief negotiator on Northern Ireland. It comes as the EU and the UK said no agreement had been reached on the approach to avoid a hard border on the frontier. He argued that Mrs May had been able to "fudge" the issue until now but that strategy "doesn't work any more". Mr Powell added: "Theresa May's speech may have temporarily united the Tory party, but it has not solved the substantive problems. "Indeed, her problems on Brexit may only just have begun and it may turn out that the insoluble problem of the Northern Ireland border is the issue that finally brings the entire negotiation crashing down."

Source: Evening echo March 19, 2018 22:41 UTC