There would be “continued regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the Republic, allowing a soft (or invisible) border to remain. They could not support a deal that meant Northern Ireland would leave the EU on different terms to the rest of the UK. Meanwhile Scotland, Wales and London all said that if Northern Ireland could get special treatment, they wanted it too. It never wanted to accept a trade-off between economic and regulatory alignment with the EU and restoring sovereign independence. The prime minister now has less than a week to salvage a Brexit deal amid increasing signs of EU impatience.

Source: The Guardian December 05, 2017 17:37 UTC