The three problems with changing the Brexit backstop

The EU only functions as a collection of 28 nations – minus one on 29 March – because of its streamlined, centralised processes. And that efficient bureaucratic process was magnificently on display in two years of negotiation between the Article 50 taskforce of the European Commission, led by Michel Barnier, and the UK government. It culminated in the legally binding Withdrawal Agreement that was signed off at the end of last year by all EU government heads, including Theresa May. One of the three pillars of the 599-page Withdrawal Agreement is the Northern Ireland protocol, better known as the backstop, which is designed to keep open the border in the island of Ireland in perpetuity because the permeability of that border is almost universally seen as a prophylactic against the return of terrorism.

That backstop was not unilaterally drafted by the EU. It stemmed from long and complicated negotiations between Barnier’s deputy Sabine Weyand and May’s chief negotiator Olly Robbins month after painful month, during which the EU moved its position in response to pressure from May very considerably.