“I need to be able to look the British people in the eye and say this backstop is a temporary solution. “People are rightly concerned that what is only meant to be temporary could become a permanent limbo – with no new relationship between the UK and the EU ever agreed. “I am clear we are not going to be trapped permanently in a single customs territory unable to do meaningful trade deals.” Mr Johnson, who quit over Mrs May’s Chequers deal in the summer, accused Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of performing a "shameless U-turn" by suggesting that the UK should remain in a customs union. He also urged Mrs May to make clear that the “very latest deadline” by which Britain will have an independent trade policy so it can sign free trade deals is “December 2021”. Mrs May replied that she continued to believe that what we should be doing is working to ensure that the backstop never comes into place, that "it is not December 2021 that we are talking about but 1 January 2021”. There had been hopes of a deal yesterday after Dominic Raab, the Exiting the EU secretary, travelled to Brussels for talks with the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.
Brexit talks have reached an impasse due to EU demands for a second backstop , which would apply to just ##inian Ireland , to avoid the refusal of the UK government to implement a customs union for the British Isles . While the UK government has agreed to an initial backstop , which would create a customs union for Britain and Northern Ireland until technology can be developed to police a soft border between Northern Ireland and Ireland , the EU has proposed a secondary backstop which would keep just Northern Ireland in the customs union if the original deal can not be agreed in time .