Politics

Brexit news: How will Boris Johnson remove Brexit backstop from withdrawal agreement?


Last night Boris Johnson launched a fresh bid to remove the backstop, the mechanism to stop a hard border in Ireland, from the Brexit deal by sending a four-page open letter to European Council President Donald Tusk. In the letter he branded the backstop anti-democratic and “inconsistent with the sovereign of the UK as a state” and requested to strip the backstop out of the Brexit deal. But how exactly does the Prime Minister plan on removing the Brexit backstop from the Withdrawal Agreement?

Mr Johnson’s four-page letter repeats many of the demands the Prime Minister has called for since taking office last month but he also introduces several new arguments.

The abrupt letter outlined demands as he brutally picks apart Mrs May’s deal, which suffered three humiliating defeats in the House of Commons earlier this year.

The letter outlines Mr Johnson’s desire to secure a deal with the EU ahead of the October 31 deadline and draws attention to the “uniquely deep ties” the UK has with the Republic of Ireland.

The Prime Minister also went on to lay down the law on what the UK wants from a renegotiation of the Withdrawal Agreement with the EU.

What did Boris Johnson call for in the letter?

Mr Johnson begins the letter by stating the backstop is antidemocratic because the UK may not be able to leave the customs union and Northern Ireland could be kept in some areas of regulatory alignment with a say over them.

The Prime Minister then delivers a new argument, claiming the backstop defeats a key aim of the leave campaign – regulatory divergence from the EU.

He introduces a second fresh argument, saying the backstop undermined the Good Friday Agreement, instead of protecting the peace settlement as the EU has previously claimed.

Mr Johnson ends the letter by proposing vague steps for a way forward.

He demands new alternative customs arrangements to be put in place in the two year transition period and then offers the possibility of “commitments” to prevent a hard border in place of the backstop.

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“Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support re-establishing a border. Even if they do not admit it.”

The European Commission said Mr Johnson’s letter did not contain a “legally operational solution” to prevent a hard Irish border.

A spokeswoman reiterated Mr Tusk’s response and said the Prime Minister’s letter: “Does not set out what any alternative arrangements could be.”

What is the Irish backstop?

The backstop forms part of the draft Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between Theresa May’s government and the EU.

The backstop is effectively an insurance policy in UK and EU Brexit negotiations which is intended to ensure the Irish border remains open, as it is today, whatever the outcome of the UK, and the EU’s negotiations about their future relationship after Brexit.

It would ensure the UK retains a very close relationship with the EU for an indefinite period and will apply if the UK and EU have not agreed a final deal by the deadline at the end of a standstill transition period or if that final deal does not guarantee a soft border.



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