Prime Minister Theresa May is under pressure to secure a potential Brexit deal within the next 48 hours, if Brexit talks are to progress.
This comes after a series of comments made by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator to the remaining 27-member states.
Barnier told EU ambassadors that the UK government had assured him that a potential solution was being negotiated upon, in the interest of appeasing both Democratic Unionist party and the Republic of Ireland over the issue of its border regulation.
Earlier this week, The UK and EU failed to reach an agreement to progress to the next stage of Brexit talks of dealing with the issue of trade, in a significant blow to the May government.
An impending meeting between the 27-member states is scheduled for Friday evening, providing the UK reach an agreement with the DUP on a solution to avoid enforcing a hard border.
According to reports, the UK had been willing to accept that Northern Ireland may for the most part remain in the EU’s customs union and single market, given that the majority of the region voted against Brexit (55.8 percent).
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has since however said it will not accept an agreement in which Northern Ireland receives deferential treatment from the rest of the UK.
This proves particularly problematic for the conservative government, given the fact that it relies on DUP support to secure power in Westminster.
The Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, told a news conference he had spoken by phone to British PM Theresa May on Wednesday.
“She wants to come back to us with some text tonight and tomorrow,” he said.
He added: “I want to move things forward as well.
“I want us to move to phase two, if that is possible, next week but the absolute red line that has been there for some time remains. and it’s been there since the day of the referendum and even before.
“My responsibility as taoiseach – as prime minister of Ireland – is to protect our fundamental national interest and that is the rights of Irish citizens in Ireland and Britain and also the avoidance of a return to a border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.”
The Irish government has requested a written agreement from the UK that there will be no return to a “hard border” after the finalization of Brexit.