'Impossible position': Brexit is going nowhere fast

"We are in a period in paralysis," said John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform. "The reason for that is all of the various bits of Brexit that are hardest to deal with are coming together at once." ...The second will look at a "customs partnership" under which Britain would collect EU import duties on goods from outside Europe. That would reduce the need for checks at the UK-EU border. Even if May can settle on a preferred option, parliament or the European Union could still reject it. "It's mostly a delay tactic," Springford said of May's strategy for settling the issue. "These are essentially political choices, and no amount of study is going to convert anyone."

...Springford said that May is in an "impossible situation." She cannot bend to the European Union on the Irish border issue without upsetting key political allies in Northern Ireland. Concessions on the customs union, on the other hand, would upset hardliners in her own party.