Published: 07:51 Friday 09 March 2018 European Council president Donald Tusk has threatened to freeze Brexit talks, insisting that the sequence of negotiations must be “Ireland first”. Britain has so far failed to bring forward “specific and realistic” alternative proposals to keep the Irish border open without activating the EU’s “backstop” option, he said. After Theresa May rejected EU proposals for Northern Ireland effectively to remain in the customs union, Mr Tusk warned that progress in Brexit talks could be put at risk if there was “backsliding” on principles agreed last year. The European Council president was speaking in Dublin after talks with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who held out hopes for an “evolution” in the UK’s position as negotiations on the future relationship get under way.
European Council president Donald Tusk has threatened to freeze Brexit talks unless issues relating to the Irish border are considered first. He said Britain had not come up with a "specific and realistic" alternative to keeping the Irish border open without activating the EU’s own "backstop" option. Theresa May has rejected EU proposals for Northern Ireland in effect to remain in the customs union and Tusk warned that if there was no progress on this issue by October, he would have to consider suspending talks.