Last night, the the UK and the EU announced they had reached an agreement on a joint instrument providing guarantees on the backstop - but what does it all mean?
British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Strasbourg Source: Vincent Kessler via PA Images
There’s less than three weeks to go until the UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March, so the stakes couldn’t be higher.First – a quick look back. Our agreement provides meaningful clarifications & legal guarantees to the Withdrawal Agreement & #backstop. The choice is clear: it is this deal, or #Brexit may not happen at all. Let’s bring the UK’s withdrawal to an orderly end. We owe it to history. https://t.co/lfy9eehEZi pic.twitter.com/XCqcLwZV7VLast night, following last-ditch attempts to secure Brexit concessions from the EU, May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker gave a press conference in Strasbourg.
First is a “joint legally binding instrument” on the withdrawal text, which addresses the deal’s controversial backstop plan to keep open the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. It would kick in at the end of the transition period – which starts on 29 March and ends on 31 December 2020 - if a final deal is agreed.
The mechanism being announced last night complemented the withdrawal agreement agreed last November without reopening it, he said – noting that this was a “second chance” and that there would be no third chance. The EU, under the new proposals, will not be able to trap the UK in the backstop indefinitely, May said. If it makes any move to do so, that can be tackled through arbitration. MPs were clear that legal changes were needed to the backstop. Today we have secured legal changes. “Now is the time to come together, to back this improved Brexit deal, and to deliver on the instruction of the British people,” May said.
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