EU warns no-deal Brexit would mean hard border in Ireland

A hard border would be imposed in Ireland if Britain left the European Union without a deal, a spokesman for the European Commission said on Tuesday.

As the clock ticked ever closer towards the UK's planned departure date of March 29, there was no sign of any compromise being reached on the so-called Irish backstop, the mechanism designed to prevent formal border checks.

But EU chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas said on Tuesday that the likely enforcement of border checks could not be avoided and referenced a line from the Spice Girls song 'Wannabe' to urge Prime Minister Theresa May to spell out her true intentions.

“If you were to push me to speculate on what might happen in a no-deal scenario in Ireland, I think it is pretty obvious you will have a hard border, and our commitments to the Good Friday agreement and everything we have been doing for years with our tools, instruments and programmes will have to take inevitably into account this fact,” he told reporters at a briefing.

“So of course we are for peace. Of course we stand behind the Good Friday agreement but that is what a no-deal scenario would entail.”

“We expect the United Kingdom to tell us what they want, what they really, really want,” Schinas quipped, with a half-smile, half-frustrated grimace.

“At this stage we have nothing new to say from Brussels because there is nothing new from London.”

In Dublin, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said some sort of backstop-style arrangement would still have to be negotiated, even in the event of a no-deal departure.

“We’d have to negotiate an agreement on customs and regulations so that there would be no hard border. We already have that agreement. It is the backstop… We have a proposal that does work. We have to stand by it,” he said in the Dail.

The row over the backstop came as more British businesses initiated contingency plans, including Brexiteer billionaire James Dyson announcing he was shifting his company's headquarters to Singapore.

Dyson, who is also one of the largest landowners in Britain and therefore eligible for large EU farming subsidies, did not explain personally the reason for the move. The vacuum cleaner maker has pushed for a no-deal Brexit on the basis that it would force the EU to negotiate.

Meanwhile, shipping firm P&O said its entire fleet of cross-Channel ferries will be re-registered under the Cypriot flag, as the 182-year-old British maritime operator activated its Brexit plans.

“In advance of Britain leaving the European Union on March 29, 2019, we undertook a review of the flag status of our ships on the English Channel.

“For operational and accounting reasons, we have concluded that the best course of action is to reflag all ships to be under the Cyprus flag.

“The Cyprus flag is on the ‘white list’ of both the Paris and Tokyo Memoranda of Understanding, resulting in fewer inspections and delays, and will result in significantly more favourable tonnage tax arrangements as the ships will be flagged in an EU member state.

Sony also confirmed it is moving its European headquarters from London to Amsterdam, while luxury carmaker Bentley said the company was stockpiling parts and described Brexit as a “killer” threatening profitability.

Dixons Carphone and Pets at Home said they were stockpiling TVs, laptops and cat food to mitigate and anticipated disruption at British ports.