Britain, EU agree draft deal on Northern Irish backstop

Reuters
A Guinness truck passes a sign for Customs and Excise on a road near the border with Ireland near Kileen, Northern Ireland, October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union have agreed a draft Brexit text, including a solution to the so-called backstop to prevent a return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

The draft deal says any such backstop arrangement, which would see Britain and the EU establishing a single customs territory, would be temporary and both sides would seek to secure a deal on a future relationship by Dec. 31, 2020, to ensure a backstop would not be necessary.

You can read the full document at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/756374/14_November_Draft_Agreement_on_the_Withdrawal_of_the_United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Northern_Ireland_from_the_European_Union.pdf

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)