The BBC were reporting yesterday that the latest wizard backstop plan for the Irish border, shown to the cabinet today, will be published this morning (HERE) amid reports that David Davis is threatening to resign again (HERE) over the lack of a specific time limit. Meanwhile, Politico published yesterday what they claim is the essence of the plan (HERE). A cabinet minister who has seen the four page plan described it as very anodyne so don't get your hopes up.
According to Politico the idea is to have ports in Northern Ireland behave as if they were entry points to the EU with red and green channels for goods leaving NI for the UK. In this way if you trade with UK businesses your goods will simply pass through the green channel and wouldn't be checked.
"According to two senior U.K. government figures briefed on the new proposal — one minister and one official — the scheme would involve Northern Irish ports being considered effectively as an entry point to the EU on goods for which the U.K. has agreed to align standards with the bloc.
"It is a modification to the so-called “maximum facilitation” or “max fac” customs model favored by Brexiteers and being discussed by senior ministers. That model aims to use technology to avoid border checks on the Northern Ireland land border".
"To deal with accusations that the plan creates a border in the Irish Sea, a “green channel” would be established for goods moving between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Goods passing through it would not be delayed with checks.
"However, goods coming from the mainland or the rest of the world would go through a “red channel” at Northern Irish ports and airports to check whether they comply with single market regulations".
It all still looks suspiciously like a wet border down the Irish sea to me but with a cunning disguise to fool the DUP into thinking it isn't.
At this stage it isn't clear if the border posts at Belfast or Larne for example are to be manned by UK staff only, in which case the EU are effectively sub contracting their border controls to a third country, something they wouldn't be too happy with I would have thought. If they are manned by EU employees, or even jointly staffed, I think that would scupper the plan straightaway in the eyes of the ultra Brexiteers and the DUP.
The London Evening Standard are reporting (HERE) a coming "showdown" between May and Davis over the border issue. He wants the backstop to have a fixed end date of 2022 at the latest but he doesn't say what happens if there is no solution to the problem.
What a mess. And this is really the first big test. After eighteen months of fudge and can kicking the time has come where a decision has to be made - or does it? We shall see.
Update: This morning the BBC seem to be indicating the plan may not even be published today!
