Theresa May arrives in Northern Ireland on Tuesday as her government is engaged in an elaborate game of make-believe with its own MPs over Brexit and the Border. The common ground favoured by the backbenchers has been mapped out in the so-called Malthouse compromise, which calls for the backstop to be replaced by a tariff-free trade area with maximum facilitation of customs. The prime minister has also tasked attorney general Geoffrey Cox to formulate proposals to introduce a time limit or a unilateral exit mechanism to the backstop. Eurosceptic Conservative MP Steve Baker warned on Sunday that he and his Brexiteer allies would reject any compromise with the EU that did not involve replacing the backstop with the Malthouse compromise. Such an outcome will lead the prime minister into another negotiation with Brussels, this time about the duration and terms of any extension of the article 50 deadline.

Source: The Irish Times February 04, 2019 21:22 UTC