The UK Prime Minister will travel to Northern Ireland tomorrow to deliver a speech on Brexit.
Theresa May’s spokesman said she will discuss British commitments regarding the Irish border and will meet with local businesses in the region.
She is meeting with the warring sides of her own party this afternoon as she tries to find a way forward on Brexit.
Members of the hard-line Brexiteer European Research Group (ERG) and Remain-supporting former ministers are meeting as part of a new working group.
The new group, entitled the Alternative Arrangements Working Group (AAWG), will be meeting over the next three days.
It follows last week’s vote in the House of Commons which instructed Mrs May to return to Brussels to renegotiate the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and replace the Irish border backstop with “alternative arrangements.”
The EU has warned that the agreement – including the backstop – is not open for re-negotiation.
Malthouse
The group is set to examine the feasibility of the so-called “Malthouse Compromise” which aims to remove the backstop and replace it with what UK politicians have termed a “free trade agreement-lite.”
It would involve a re-drafting of the withdrawal agreement and an extension of the Brexit transition period until 2021.
It would involve replacing the backstop with a free trade agreement alongside new technology – that does not yet exist – to prevent a hard border.
The plan includes provision for a managed no-deal exit if all else fails. This would see the UK honouring its EU commitments until 2021 at which time it would leave on WTO terms.
"Very frustrating"
The EU has already warned that it will reject the attempt to re-negotiate the backstop – and over the weekend, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar expressed frustration that the UK was reviewing ideas that have already been rejected.
It comes after the UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid told the BBC it was “perfectly possible” to avoid a hard border in Ireland by using “existing technology.”
He said the “only thing missing is a bit of goodwill on the EU side."
The idea has already been examined and rejected by the European Commission and the Brexit taskforce and in a tweet, deputy EU negotiator Sabine Weyand warned that allowing the backstop to be replaced would be a “dereliction of duty.”
👇That would not be « goodwill » but a dereliction of duty by public authorities in the EU that have a duty to ensure public health and safety of consumers, protect against unfair competition and enforce public policies and international agreements. https://t.co/fpX2ibGzAP
— Sabine Weyand (@WeyandSabine) February 3, 2019
