RE: A Great Day26 Feb 2019 20:25
Let me post that again without the SB ref
MPs seem to continue to believe that Cox will return with a time-limit or a unilateral exit mechanism wrapped up in a legally binding codicil or annexe to the Withdrawal Agreement.
But they need to think logically here: the EU leaders have not given Michel Barnier a new mandate, which means that the annexe can’t contradict the Withdrawal Agreement which is very explicit on there being no exit mechanism.
Article 20 of the Irish Protocol in the Withdrawal Agreeement (p.328) is very clear. Either side can notify the other that the backstop is no longer needed. The Joint Committee must meet within six months at ministerial level to discuss and then the Protocol shall cease to apply if “the [European] Union and the United Kingdom decide jointly” it is no longer necessary.
Step forward Steve Barclay, the UK's cheerfully beleaguered Brexit secretary, who has now told the EU that Britain could stomach a legally operational backstop without substantial changes. This is because Mr Barclay believes that the UK's negotiating objectives can be achieved via what one EU source described as "keyhole surgery" – making small tweaks to the Brexit deal using a legal codicil. Those tweaks would effectively transfer the written assurances on the backstop Jean-Claude Juncker gave the Prime Minister in a letter earlier this year into the Withdrawal Agreement.
In laymen's terms this means that the backstop would function as currently planned, with no option for the UK to pull out unilaterally. However, the EU would be bound by the Withdrawal Agreement to work out an alternative in good faith.
Cut & paste error.