I'm sorry but its absolutely the case that the EU could compromise on the backstop

and if they did then it would unlock the situation. That's not me wishing to wilfully cause harm to the island of Ireland, what will wilfully cause harm to is if we leave without a deal in place and a hard border has to be imposed at the end of March. If that happens it will not just be the fault of the UK however badly we appear to have handled parts of the negotiation. To sort this requires some form of compromise on both sides so i'm afraid I don;t see the continued EU line of "the withdrawal agreement can;t be re-opened" as reasonable either.

Under Article 50 we could have served notice, not negotiated anything and just left after 2 years. That would have meant a hard border in Ireland is inevitable this March. In that context, a long stop date of say 5 years beyond the transition period for the backstop (which would probably be enough time to get the deal through) with perhaps provision for further extension is a considerable improvement on the current position for both sides. It gives 7 years to reach agreement or if that agreement cannot be reached then at least any infrastructure requirements/disruption could be absolutely minimised though work done in the meantime. But at some point, if there cannot be an agreement, it needs to be accepted and in such circumstances i'm afraid both sides will need to impose a border, That's just an unfortunate fact as long as NI is part of the UK.

I understand why Ireland and the EU want the perpetual backstop they are seeking but its not reasonable in my view to expect a country leaving the EU to sign up to potentially losing control of part of its sovereign territory in perpetuity as a condition of leaving and once the Uk is in that position it loses even the modest negotiating/bargaining position it has now in the context of negotiations over the future relationship.

I think that too many people in this debate see everything that our government do as calculated/evil or wrong whilst immediately accepting that everything the EU ask for or require is reasonable or fair. I just happen to think their stance on this is not (knowing the political sensitivities around it) and whether you like it or not this is the point that could unlock the current impasse and see a deal reached.

I've never said I want no deal Brexit. My hope and belief was always that there would be a sensible agreement between the Eu and the UK and I still think that will happen. That said, i do think we either need to do it properly (i.e. May's deal or harder) or we should just stay in and look to reform from the inside as i think soft Brexit is a waste of time which makes nobody happy and ultimately for our self esteem as a nation long term would be very damaging and just see more resentment towards the EU. As such, if there is no "deal" acheivable that can get through parliament which is May's deal or "harder" then I would prefer to stay in the EU, as much as ideologically i would resent the position we find ourselves in.

Posted By: Jim on January 22nd 2019 at 17:05:26

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