Backstop guarantees on the agenda for EU-UK meeting in Brussels
UK Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and the British Attorney General Geoffrey Cox return to Brussels today for further talks with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier on the Irish backstop.
The third strand is how to adapt the non-binding Political Declaration, which sits alongside the Withdrawal Agreement and maps out the future relationship. However, the hardline European Research Group has assembled a panel of eight law experts, seven of whom are eurosceptic MPs, to test the new legal advice when it appears. There is much speculation as to the form and content of any changes that London manages to secure.
Sources point out that paragraphs 140 and 141 of the Political Declaration, setting out the future trade relationship, already provide the framework for both sides to explore the option of technology as a way of solving the Irish border question, but only once the Withdrawal Agreement has been adopted.
A further text could spell out how Westminster might follow new EU legislation on workers' rights and the environment. This would be purely for domestic consumption in the UK, as it would not involve any commitments by the EU.
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