The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator said on Thursday that Britain's plans for a special border arrangement with Ireland after it leaves the EU were unacceptable.

The blunt comments from Michel Barnier highlighted the gulf between the two sides on one of the trickiest issues thrown up by Brexit - how it will affect the currently seamless movement of people and goods between the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU member, and British-ruled Northern Ireland.

Britain said last month that there should be no border posts or immigration checks along the 500km frontier after Brexit. Some 30,000 people make the crossing each day, and businesses from farming to brewing depend on easy movement of goods between north and south.

While Brussels and Dublin also say they want to keep an open border, they say Britain has failed to explain how it would square this with its stated intention to leave the EU's customs union.

"The UK wants the EU to suspend the application of its laws, its customs union and its single market at what will be a new external border for the EU, and the UK wants to use Ireland as a kind of test case for the future EU-UK customs relations. This will not happen," Barnier told a news conference in Brussels. The EU is also concerned that Britain could use the border between the two Irelands as a way to circumvent tariffs that could be imposed in a post-Brexit EU-UK trade deal.

MPs urged to back Brexit bil

Meanwhile, Brexit minister David Davis called on parliament on Thursday to back legislation to sever Britain's political, financial and legal ties with the European Union, saying that opposing the bill would lead to chaos. At a rowdy session of parliament, Davis accused the opposition Labour Party of pursuing a "cynical and unprincipled" path by challenging the repeal bill, or EU withdrawal bill, designed to disentangle Britain from more than 40 years of EU lawmaking.

Labour, in turn, said the government was using the bill to give itself wide-ranging powers and a "blank cheque" to do away with laws if ministers did not like them, threatening the rights of ordinary Britons.

The legislation is a vital stepping-stone towards Britain's departure from the EU in March 2019. It faces stormy debate and a likely barrage of attempted amendments as Prime Minister Theresa May, weakened by the loss of her majority in a June election and criticised by Brussels over her Brexit strategy, attempts to steer it through parliament.

Source: Khaleej Times