Brexit has been an issue among the European countries since recent times. For those who don’t know at all what Brexit is actually, well, Brexit is an economic reform set up by the United Kingdom in order to get separated from the other countries of European Union in terms of trade and commerce and carry it on their own now.
What is the backstop policy?
A key part of the Brexit deal was the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Backstop is an issue related to this border.
It is the last resort of the European Union Countries if Britain withdraws its membership from the European Union without keeping or securing an encompassing deal.
The New Brexit Deal
Recently the Prime Minister of Britain, Theresa May presented a new condition on the ongoing Brexit deal. The condition is regarding the backstop where it is mentioned that there would be no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the Brexit deal would design an insurance arrangement for it.
The benefit it would derive is that it would give Britain a single custom territory with the rest of the countries of the European Union leaving Northern Ireland as the European Union’s single market for goods.
The Prime Minister’s speech
Prime Minister Theresa May on her recent speech on the new Brexit deal talked about this backstop and the Stormont’s Role. She promised a lot of facts and also cleared a lot of points regarding this new deal. She came into further negotiations too listening to the unionist concerns. Some of the main points she talked in the speech are noted below:
- The backstop would stay in the Withdrawal Agreement. This was the point against the unionist concern and the PM clearly mentioned to keep the backstop.
- In against of the backstop, the Stormont would be given legal force and an enhanced role to the already proposed and made commitments.
- Alternative arrangements such as technological solutions would be given to the Irish borders by December 2020. This would allows seamless flow of trade among the countries of the European Union.
- If the backstop is passed but leaves Northern Ireland to follow the EU rules, eventually the rest of UK would also follow the same rules. This point was announced six months ago by the UK Government in a package of commitments.
- Finally, the UK government also claimed that shifting from political promises to legal binding of commitments should be seen by the EU members as a significant step.
The role of Stormont
Stormont is a name given to the parliamentary houses of Ireland i.e. The Northern Ireland Assembly And Executive. Thus if the a single market between the UK and the EU is to be formed by the backstop, then the Stormont has to play the important roles in the trade and commerce then. The Stormont will he liable to give their consents for the new regulations added to the backstop on a cross community basis.
From all the above decisions and updates made and came into, one thing seems clear that if the UK does not properly update the backstop, then the EU, according to a mechanism in the Withdrawal Agreement can take appropriate remedial measures.
