He was responding to demands from a string of Scottish, Welsh and English MPs that any arrangements for Northern Ireland would apply across the country. By teatime, we had a 49-second press conference saying that the deal was off.”Q&A What is regulatory alignment? Show Hide Inside the EU, both Ireland and Northern Ireland (as part of the UK) are part of the single market and customs union so share the same regulations and standards. David Davis told parliament that regulatory alignment would not mean adopting exactly the same rules as the EU but "mutually recognised" rules and inspections. “There was an exchange of texts – one being regulatory divergence and no regulatory alignment.

Source: The Guardian December 05, 2017 15:00 UTC