Reality check: what do the Brexit backstop proposals mean? Sinn Féin, SDLP, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and the Green Party in Northern Ireland all support the backstop. [53] If the UK were to leave the EU without „any agreement” (if the draft withdrawal agreement is not approved by Parliament), Northern Ireland (under the UK) would have different customs and regulatory standards than Ireland (under the EU). This means that customs controls on goods must be imported at the border, which could create a „hard border” with physical infrastructure such as cameras or guard posts. This would undermine the principle of North-South cooperation as defined in the Good Friday Agreement. Prime Minister Johnson has said the UK government would approve a Brexit deal without a backstop, but says Britain will leave the EU on 31 October. According to the Attorney General (the government`s supreme legal adviser), this instrument has reduced the likelihood that the UK will be kept in the backstop against its will if the EU blockes negotiations on future relationship agreements with bad intentions. The withdrawal agreement stipulates that the UK and the EU could get rid of the backstop requirements, but only if the UK and the EU agree that there is no need to avoid a hard border in Ireland. This protocol was strongly rejected by the Democratic Unionist Party,[43] which saw it as a weakening of Northern Ireland`s place in the United Kingdom[44] and is seen by a number of commentators as the main reason why the withdrawal agreement was not ratified by the United Kingdom Parliament. [45] [46] [47] Since 2018, the DUP has stated that the anti-Northern Ireland ruling must be withdrawn from the Brexit withdrawal agreement if it were to continue to support the Conservative government in the House of Commons[49] although the party has stated that it is open to limiting backstops over time. [50] The withdrawal agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom sets out the conditions for the UK`s orderly exit from the EU, in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on european Union. The Irish government, in particular, insisted on this „backstop”. [41] [42] They believe that the UK could conclude with an „open” customs union agreement with the EU, despite assurances that the backstop is designed as a temporary situation.
In March 2019, the UK government and the EU agreed on an additional „instrument” to address these concerns. Paul Bew, a Crossbench peer, noted that the downward nature of the backstop reverses the ascendancy of the Good Friday Agreement, risking „the current deterioration of North-South relations increasing in unpredictable and dangerous ways.” [63] The terms of the backstop were finalized in November 2018.
