The EU Agriculture Commissioner has said the UK has become ‘trapped in a recurring cycle of silly behaviour’ on Brexit.

Speaking at the Kennedy Summer School in Wexford this afternoon, Phil Hogan noted that ‘an invisible border is essential for peace’ in Ireland.  

He said the EU has made its position on the border very clear – and the UK should have “no difficulty” signing a backstop solution on the border into law.

“I want to assure you that the EU stands firm with Ireland that there will not be any agreement on transition until the UK agrees on an operational back-stop on the Irish border,” he told delegates.

“They can have it as technical as they like - but the principal will have to be enshrined in any legislation.”

He said the "big question for Ireland" is whether the UK will stand by its promise that it will do nothing to necessitate a border in Ireland.

“I think we can be sure that at this stage the UK intends to honour its promise," he said.

“It has said that it will do that, so therefore they should have no difficulty in putting it into the legislation in the Withdrawal Agreement.

“I don’t understand how they would have any difficulty whatsoever in putting it in a legal agreement, if they want to be taken at face value and taken at their word.”

Absurdist politics

He slammed the “absurdist politics” that he said has taken over at Westminster – and said it is time for Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg to “shut up and let Prime Minister May get on with her work.”

He accused House of Commons Brexiteers of pouring negativism on every option that is put forward – without offering any alternative solutions themselves.

He said the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier has “repeatedly said that the UK cannot cherry pick parts of the internal market by wanting a market for goods but not services and that the UK cannot split the EU’s four freedoms – goods, capital, services and people.”

“This is the clear and unequivocal message of the united EU27,” he said.

Chequers

Referencing suggestions from Westminster that the only offer on the table from Britain is the strategy agreed by the British Cabinet at Chequers in July, he said the negotiations are doomed to fail.

“If the UK attitude is Chequers and only Chequers, there will be no agreement before March next year on the future trade relationship,” he said.

The Chequers deal would see Britain continuing to observe EU rules on goods – but free to decide most of its own rules regarding services and immigration.

The plan led to the resignation of former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis.

Michel Barnier has also warned that he is "strongly opposed" to key parts of the plan.