Michel Barnier had “overreached” in suggesting that Northern Ireland could effectively stay in the customs union and single market after Brexit, Foster told the commission official during a meeting in Brussels. The legal text unveiled last week did not fairly reflect a joint report agreed between the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, and Theresa May last December, it was claimed. Britain’s exit from the EU – taking Northern Ireland with it – risks a return to a hard or policed border. She said: “We will not countenance any proposal which would create a new border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. “Also there is a need to deal with some of the overreach in relation to the EU text,” she added of the draft legal text.

Source: The Guardian March 06, 2018 13:30 UTC