Brexit: Theresa May confirms “no hard border” in Ireland

“Sufficient progress” has finally been made in Brexit negotiations as Theresa May announces there will be an avoidance of a hard border in Ireland.

At a press conference on Friday morning, the Prime Minister revealed that citizens’ rights, the Irish border and the divorce bill had all been agreed on and talks were ready to move onto round two.

There was little detail on what had actually been agreed, but May promised she would guarantee the rights of the three million EU citizens in the UK “enshrined in UK law and enforced by British courts”.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, said this on news of Ireland’s soft border: “We have a good outcome, this has been a difficult negotiation, I hope both sides are happy with what we have. It puts a floor in terms of what’s possible in the outcome.”

The soft border will not, however, mean that Northen Ireland will become separate from the rest of the UK.

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon responded to the news on Twitter, warning that “things now get really tough”.

“Any special arrangements for Northern Ireland must be available to other UK nations,” she warned.

Donald Tusk also made a speech this morning, telling reporters that today was a personal success for Theresa May but the hardest was yet to come.

“While being satisfied with today’s agreement, which is obviously the personal success of Prime Minister Theresa May, let us remember that the most difficult challenge is still ahead. We all know that breaking up is hard. But breaking up and building a new relation is much harder,” he told reporters.

“Since the Brexit referendum, a year and a half has passed. So much time has been devoted to the easier part of the task. And now, to negotiate a transition arrangement and the framework for our future relationship, we have de facto less than a year.”