There is a nice article on CapX this morning (HERE) about how we have still not faced up to the Brexit predicament we are in with regard to the backstop and how it fits in with EU (and UK government) policy for the future relationship. The piece is by William Davison a former Bloomberg journalist and well worth a read.
He writes:
"It has become increasingly apparent over the last year that EU policy is for Northern Ireland to stay in a customs union with the EU and its Single Market for goods. This means there would be no need for compliance checks related to the Irish land border, as all Northern Ireland’s tariffs, customs rules, and regulations related to the freedom of movement of goods will remain harmonised with the EU’s".
And goes on to say:
"The UK, at least officially, has appeared to continue to believe that non-customs union, and maybe non-Single Market, 'alternative arrangements' could preclude or replace the backstop. They would involve tracking goods remotely and conducting compliance checks away from the border.
"While the EU is legally committed to exploring such options in good faith, officials have repeatedly described them as 'magical thinking' and 'unicorns', Deputy Negotiator Sabine Weyand says they do not exist, and there is no obligation for Brussels to accept any future UK proposals.
"In addition to its expressed concerns over the Good Friday Agreement, the EU is not willing to tolerate any additional threat to the integrity of its Single Market and Customs Union that results from the UK leaving. It says this would occur from increased smuggling if there were a porous EU external trade border across Ireland".
This fits in nicely with a report on Buzzfeed at the beginning of February (HERE) about what these 'alternative arrangements' might be. Liam Fox's department has been discussing these solutions with, among others, a firm called Utterberry. Their proposal has been leaked to Buzzfeed and so we learn that it includes:
Fox and the Brexiteers believe in these things because they want to believe in them. But it doesn't make them possible or practical. This is why the backstop is such a problem. It threatens to keep us tied to the EU for years and possibly forever.
Davison is right, we haven't faced up to the predicament.
- Attaching RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips to every individual package crossing the border.
- Tracking devices fitted to all commercial vehicles
- Weighbridges embedded into roads to check the weight of vehicles
- ANPR cameras at crossing points
- Facial recognition systems with a database of 'unrecognised' faces
- People having to carry passports with RFID chips being read at the border
I don't suppose the report explains how packages without RFID chips are to be detected. Smugglers may not always bother - you never know - to declare what they're trying to smuggle. And trying to weigh moving vehicles is one of the most difficult things to do. I have some experience of this with dynamic rail weighbridges at power stations for example, and the installation, filtering out of the shock loading even at low speed and software to sort it all out are massive technical challenges. I doubt this would ever be possible on the road.
“The solution to the [border] issue, if done correctly, can be completely electronic,” said the report, which was sent to Fox by UtterBerry CEO Heba Bevan, after she met with him and DIT officials last May.
It would have been fascinating to be in the meeting and listening to all the b******t (or should it be Unicorns**t) being talked. Apparently Fujitsu, a very large Japanese company made a similar proposal.
"The [Utterberry] report makes no mention of the scale of the task, nor the cost, of what is proposed.
'The purpose of the document [was] to provide information on the solution and how it works. At the time the document was drafted we did not have specifics on scale, the parties involved in the project, their role, etc, and this remains so at the moment. Cost information normally follows once the project requirements are released and it is put up for bidding,' the UtterBerry CEO told BuzzFeed News in an email".
Fox and the Brexiteers believe in these things because they want to believe in them. But it doesn't make them possible or practical. This is why the backstop is such a problem. It threatens to keep us tied to the EU for years and possibly forever.
Davison is right, we haven't faced up to the predicament.
