A “no deal safety net unit” is being rushed through by Scotland Yard at a cost of more than £2.4m after police chiefs warned the home secretary that losing EU tools would make it harder to track sex offenders and terrorist suspects, according to internal police documents.
The initial cost to the taxpayer was subsequently inflated by £250,000 to allow the new unit to rent an office near parliament after the Metropolitan police said it did not have the space given the large size of the team. Discussions are ongoing about the extent of the running costs to the taxpayer should the UK crash out in March.
The development comes as the British negotiating team and the European commission’s taskforce, led by Michel Barnier, prepare to enter a secretive phase known as the “tunnel” this week, amid warnings that the competing red lines remain incompatible in key areas.
EU officials have told the Guardian that the chances of such a breakthrough stand at “50/50” with serious differences remaining over how to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland in all circumstances.
It has been suggested that it might be possible as a backstop for a UK-wide customs union to replace the Northern Ireland-specific text, which would have left open the chance of a customs border in the Irish Sea.
The price to be paid would be an admission on the behalf of Downing Street that this customs arrangement would be open-ended rather than time-limited, in a move that would enrage Conservative Brexiters.
On Monday, the Irish deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, tweeted: “The Irish position remains consistent and v clear that a ‘time-limited backstop’ or a backstop that could be ended by UK unilaterally would never be agreed to by IRE or EU. These ideas are not backstops at all + don’t deliver on previous UK commitments.”
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