Good Morning Britain tackled Brexit once more today as the team spoke to Stephen Barclay to hear the latest developments on the possibility of getting the United Kingdom a good deal. However, Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard were on hand to question everything he was putting forward. 

The Brexit Secretary wasn’t even on screen a minute before he was batting away probes from Reid about a potential problem with the current deal. 

At the moment, the government has formulated a deal which mainly targets the Northern Ireland border, suggesting they would have to stay in the European single market for goods, but would leave the customs union. The result of which would mean new and extensive customs checks.

Currently, the deal needs to be passed through the European Commission as well as parliament with the hope of using it on 31 October, the day the UK is supposed to leave. 

Reid started: “Very good morning to you, Mr Barclay. You’ve got a bit of a problem if the EU don’t like it…”

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Barclay went on the defensive, insisting: “These are serious proposals and they reflect the fact we want to get on with the domestic proposals we have, such as 20,000 extra police officers and levelling up school funding. 

“Many people watching this programme will want us to get Brexit done.”

But Reid had a problem with the notion of “getting Brexit done,” believing it to not be as simple as that.

The host continued: “Can I just interrupt? I’m absolutely sure people want to get Brexit done but the idea that Brexit just gets done when the EU say yes to this proposal is a little bit disingenuous, isn’t it?”

Heading back to Barclay, the Conservative politician suggested: “You’re absolutely right there’s winding down procedures which will see us going for three years.”

However, Reid couldn’t let the point go, as she demanded: “It’s a fantastic phrase and I know in the run up to a General Election it’s great but it’s a bit of a misnomer isn’t it? 

“We have got years of this ahead. Even in this proposal it occurs to me there will be a problem with the EU. 

“The whole proposal with Theresa May’s backstop was to ensure there wasn’t a hard border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the EU and the Republic of Ireland. This doesn’t actually solve that does it? If Northern Ireland are out of the EU, that means there has to be a border with the Republic?”

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Barclay defended: “Today there’s a border, there’s a border in terms of tax and in terms of currency. 

“But in terms of putting no infrastructure at the border and we are consistent with the Good Friday Agreement then it does do that.”

Reid snapped back: “So how are you going to check, then, when items go across that border which are under two different tariff regimes?”

Barclay went on to explain how the proposal sets out plans for a “regulatory zone”, which would help with custom checks at the border. 

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Discussing more details of the planned deal, the Brexit Secretary continued: “We will look at and set up trusted trader schemes, having information declared at premises and that is exactly what the paper sets out. 

“In terms of getting Brexit done, Susanna, parliament has been stuck debating these provisions in terms of the withdrawal agreement, it has been stuck in its ability to get on to the domestic and there are areas like the police and the NHS. 

“There are discussions to be had once we get in to the Brexit period, but that’s why we’ve set up the provisions to get domestic things done.” 

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV from 6am. 

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