The UK Prime Minister is to use a speech to the House of Commons to reiterate her opposition to any Brexit deal that treats the north differently to Britain.

Theresa May will tell MPs that the UKs Withdrawal Agreement is now 95% settled – although there is still no breakthrough on the Irish border issue.

It comes after around 700,000 demonstrators marched in London calling for a “people’s vote” on the final deal.

Meanwhile there has been much speculation in the UK that Mrs May will soon face a vote of no confidence.

She will use her speech to highlight the progress of the talks in recent weeks – including a new memorandum with the Spanish government on the future of Gibraltar, a protocol with Cyprus relating to military UK sovereign base areas in the country, and what she will term a "broad agreement" on security, transport and services in the "structure and scope of the future relationship."

Border

However, she will also admit that fundamental differences of opinion remain regarding the Irish border backstop.

She will note that the UK government's commitment to avoiding a hard border has already been enshrined in British law as part of the EU Withdrawal Act.

However, she will again insist that EU demands for a backstop that would leave Northern Ireland in the customs union and single market risked "breaking up the integrity of the UK."

"I do not believe that any UK prime minister could ever accept this. And I certainly will not," she will say.

Backstop

The backstop is the commitment agreed by both sides last December that the UK will maintain alignment with EU rules "unless and until" a future trade agreement is in place that can maintain a friction-less border.

The EU has warned that the backstop cannot be time-limited and has put forward plans providing the North with a special status that would in effect keep it within the EU Customs Union and parts of the single market until a new arrangement is in place.

The UK government has proposed an alternative UK-wide backstop, known as the "temporary customs arrangement" – however its insistence that it must be time-limited has been rejected by the EU.

At last week's summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Mrs May said the UK would be prepared to consider an extension of the "implementation period", which is currently due to end in December 2020, if this reduced the chance a backstop would be needed.

Ireland and the EU have insisted that any extension can only be granted with the signing of a Withdrawal Agreement that includes a legally binding backstop.

File photo of Labour leader Brendan Howlin, 20-10-2018. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

The Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin has said the Government must stand firm on that demand.

“It must be made crystal clear by our Government that the manoeuvrings from British ministers in the last number of days, either making the backstop conditional on something else or making the backstop a short-term solution is unacceptable to us,” he said.

“There was a solemn agreement entered into by the British Government last December.

“That must be fulfilled in legal terms and it must be done now.”

Transition

Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr on Sunday, British Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said any extension of the transition phase would also need to be time-limited, suggesting it should be "three months or so" and would require a clear exit clause to avoid "any sense that we are left indefinitely in a sort of customs union limbo."

Meanwhile, a group of UK Brexiteers who oppose Mrs May’s strategy are set to meet the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, in Brussels.

The group is expected to argue concerns over customs infrastructure at the Irish border and risks to the Good Friday Agreement could be overcome with technological solutions.

Meanwhile, Brexit is to be discussed at today's meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly in London.

The Co-Chair of the Assembly, Sinn Fein TD Sean Crowe said delegates will hear more about the reality and the impact that Brexit will have on Ireland, the Irish people and the peace process.

Additional reporting IRN