Backstop or no, a deal is needed now business tells May

Making her speech in the new offices of US firm Allstate, Mrs May later spent around 50 minutes with a cross section of business leaders and representatives who made their views clear.

“It was at times full-throated; people were making it absolutely clear what no deal would look like both from an economic and a community point of view,” said Manufacturing NI CEO Stephen Kelly.

“The Prime Minister listened really intently and took some notes and we left probably more positive than when we arrived that she is not just determined to get a deal but actually determined to get a deal that recognises the unique environment that we have here in Northern Ireland .”

What form that deal may take remained unclear, hoewever, and he said any first move would have to come from the UK.

“She didn’t give away what she felt would be possible. She travels to Brussels on Thursday and she’ll take our concerns with her.

“If the UK decides that the type of relationship it wants with the rest of the EU is different to what is currently being proposed, then that actually changes the nature of what is required in terms of the backstop.

“The reality is that there is probably a majority in the House of Commons for a permanent customs union and there’s definitely a majority for a closer relationship with the single market, once the UK is out of it and that alters the requirements for what’s in the backstop.

“For instance, if the UK is committing to maintaining exactly the same standards as the EU, then all that stuff around regulatory differences disappears.

“No-one is going to get everything they want out of Brexit. The country is divided and the only thing that isn’t divided is the demand of the business community to create an environment that allows our members to pay wages on Friday and on every Friday after March 29.”

FSB NI Policy Chair, Tina McKenzie welcomed the ’s commitment to avoiding a hard border but repeated the call for alternative arrangements to be brought forward soon.

“With Brexit Day fast approaching, we need to see practical alternatives on the table soon, if changes are to be made to the withdrawal agreement.

“It is therefore crucial that politicians work in a pragmatic way to reach agreement soon, so business can have some certainty and a cliff-edge Brexit can be avoided.”

Northern Ireland Retail Consortium director Aodhán Connolly said it was “time to provide the certainty that businesses and households across the UK need.

“Any alternative arrangements must provide the same guarantee of continued frictionless, tariff-free trade and movement of people on the island of Ireland as the backstop does.

“While Northern Ireland will feel the bite of a no-deal Brexit first and hardest, it will nonetheless be felt across the whole country.”