Quick guide Why is the Irish border a stumbling block for Brexit? Britain’s exit from the EU – taking Northern Ireland with it – risks a return to a hard or policed border. The report also claimed that regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland and the republic was the “single biggest risk” to continued north-south cooperation. However, one senior government official insisted that the prime minister and Davis expected the final deal to be a “soft” arrangement. “Labour has been clear from the outset that Theresa May’s red lines on the negotiations were never going to be compatible with stopping a hard border in Northern Ireland,” he said.

Source: The Guardian December 10, 2017 21:26 UTC