Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border

No agreement has yet been reached between Britain and Ireland on the future of the Northern Irish border after Brexit, but a breakthrough could come later on Dec. 4, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.

The European Union has handed Ireland an effective veto over any Brexit deal, increasing pressure on the prime minister to make further concessions on the border issue, The Times reports.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said any agreement between London and Brussels that was unacceptable to Ireland was also unacceptable to the EU.

Theresa May has been told she has two weeks to put more money on the table if the EU is to agree to begin Brexit trade talks before the end of the year, reported BBC. 

EU Council President Donald Tusk said he was "ready" to move onto the next phase of Brexit talks, covering future relations with the UK.

Britain's talks on exiting the European Union cannot progress, as London wishes, to trade relations until it give more clarity on what will happen at its border with Ireland, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Friday, qupted by Reuters. 

Theresa May will meet European Council President Donald Tusk later - the first time since the PM set out plans for a two-year transition period post-Brexit, BBC reports.

It comes a month before the council will decide whether sufficient progress has been made to begin trade talks.

Ireland dismissed British proposals for the Irish border after Brexit as unconvincing on Friday, a day after the EU chief negotiator said they amounted to a demand the bloc suspend its laws for Britain, reported Reuters. 

But British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Tallinn, said a solution was "not beyond the wit of man".

Much of the future border arrangements between Northern Ireland and Ireland can be solved before Brexit talks enter the next phase, Ireland's foreign minister said, urging Britain to be realistic in negotiating terms to leave the European Union.

The UK government has set out proposals to ensure trade in goods and services can continue on the day the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, reported BBC.

A position paper calls for goods already on the market to be allowed to remain on sale in the UK and EU without additional restrictions.

It also calls for consumer protections to remain in place.

There should be no border posts between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland after Brexit, Britain said in an early attempt to resolve one of the most complex aspects of its European Union exit.

Britain vows that there will be "no return" to the hard Irish border of the past after Brexit as it attempts to defuse a deepening row with Ireland, The Telegraph writes.

The Government says that it wants to avoid "any physical border infrastructure" between Ireland and Northern Ireland under plans for new customs arrangements with the EU.