Brexit Begins

[RandBlade]

Incorrect. Govt. did indeed come to an agreement in principle with the EU, but has since then tried to slither out of their commitment, now trying to sell the EU the notion of a backstop to the backstop, which means no backstop at all and effectively nullifies the agreement about transition. The UK is once again showing itself to be an untrustworthy negotiation partner.

The backstop agreed was that there would be no barrier across Ireland or across the UK. Barnier's proposal nullified that first by proposing a "have cake and eat it" proposal where one part of the UK is treated as still being part of the market while the rest of the UK is treated as a third party. A magical proposal whereby unicorns can prance across the Irish border into the UK while the UK is treated as a third party. That was never agreed.

“On regulatory alignment we have been pragmatic and developed the least disruptive system for citizens and businesses on both sides. Let’s go to pragmatism. Checks carried out on ferries are less disruptive than along a 500km land border.”

Except that NI is post-Brexit part of the UK and not part of the EU. There seems to be some denial of reality at the moment that imagines that NI is going to remain in the EU - that is not happening. If there's disruption because you've not made a deal then so be it, there are no checks on ferries under any proposal ever agreed. There is no backstop under Article 50 - if there is no deal then the ferries won't have checks it is the land border that does so if you want to keep the land border check-free we need a realistic proposal not a have cake and eat it one.