Confusion and anger were widespread yesterday after an article in the Financial Times reported that the UK government was planning to override some of the provisions of the European Union’s 2019 withdrawal agreement on state aid and customs relating to Northern Ireland.
 
According to the article, supported by three unnamed sources, sections of the internal market bill due to be published tomorrow “will explicitly say the government reserves the right to set its own regime” in those areas, risking the collapse of trade negotiations with Brussels.
 
Reactions to the news spread like wildfire. European commission president Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that she trusted Downing Street “to implement the withdrawal agreement, an obligation under international law and prerequisite for any future partnership”, adding that the Northern Ireland protocol “is essential to protect peace and stability on the island”.
 
On the same platform, Ireland’s foreign affairs and defence minister, Simon Coveney, retweeted the FT piece, referring to the reported plans as “a very unwise way to proceed”. So did Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who said “this will significantly increase the likelihood of no deal, and the resulting damage to the economy will be entirely Tory inflicted”.
 
But No 10, which has opened an inquiry into how news of the plan was leaked, has insisted that’s not what it’s proposing. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said the government was looking at making “minor clarifications in extremely specific areas” if the UK left the EU without a trade deal, but remained committed to the withdrawal agreement and Northern Ireland protocol. 
 
At the same time, Boris Johnson has played down the implications of a no-deal situation, saying that Britain would “prosper mightily” if that was the case; a statement many see as paving the way to failure in trade agreement negotiations. Others, however, are taking Johnson’s words with a pinch of salt, a bit of necessary brinkmanship to put pressure on his EU counterparts.
 
Although the prime minister has threatened to walk away from the negotiating table if a deal isn’t in place by the next European Council meeting on 15-16 October, the real deadline for the talks continues to be mid-November to give enough time to convert the agreement into legal text.
 
So, as EU top Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier arrives in London for an eighth round of talks today and the unflagging story of Brexit enters its final chapter, fear and uncertainty among business and political leaders in nations across the UK, along with growing mistrust among EU officials, isn’t dissipating. If anything, it’s intensifying.