That brand new Tory plan for Brexit? Here's why it's dead in the water
David Henig
As a trade expert I can immediately see several fatal flaws in the so-called ‘Malthouse compromise’
There is considerable excitement in the Conservative party on Tuesday morning. It looks like a deal has been reached on Brexit. There’s just one problem, that, from what we can gather of the so-called “Malthouse compromise”, it stands no chance of being acceptable to the EU.
There seem to be three fundamentals to the plan: the extension of the implementation period to 2021, technological solutions to ensure no border infrastructure requirements on the island of Ireland, and an interim free trade agreement to be tabled immediately. This has been termed a “triple-lock”.
The first element is uncontroversial and indeed already part of the draft withdrawal agreement between the EU and UK. It means a standstill period during which trade carries on as before, and the UK continues to follow EU rules and trade policy, including a common external tariff.
It is the second and third parts that are almost certain to be unacceptable to the EU. Technological solutions for the Irish border have been endlessly debated, but there is no border in the world outside of the EU where there are no physical checks, including the often cited Norway-Sweden and Switzerland-EU borders. Only where both countries are in a customs union and have more or less the same product regulations backed by a common court have checks been eliminated.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/29/tory-brexit-malthouse-compromise-backstop-ireland-border
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Well that applies too.
