Sunday shows round-up: Borrowing and Brexit

Liam Fox: EU trade deal must be settled before Irish border

The International Trade Secretary has stated today that no final decision can be reached on the border between Ireland and the UK until a trade deal is settled, defying an EU ultimatum that the border question must be settled within the next ten days. The Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has requested that the UK government gives a guarantee in writing that there would be no ‘hard’ border as a result of Brexit. Speaking to Sky’s Niall Paterson, Liam Fox asserted that the UK would be leaving the single market and customs union, but argued that this did not necessarily mean the appearance of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic:

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox tells Sky News the Government does not want a hard border with Ireland #Paterson pic.twitter.com/iioSq56GVc

— Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge (@SkyPoliticsHub) November 26, 2017

NP: Perhaps the biggest sticking point at the moment in moving on to Phase 2 is the issue of the Northern Irish border… To be honest I simply can’t see a solution that allows free movement, that doesn’t restrict trade on the island and still has us coming out of the customs union.