With six weeks to go, the government is still trying to come up with an acceptable backstop alternative

After a prolonged wait, the British government has put on paper some ideas, albeit not “concrete solutions”, as to how to solve the Brexit riddle of the Irish border.

Boris Johnson has said he cannot accept the Irish backstop, which would in effect keep Northern Ireland in the single market and the whole of the UK in a customs union. The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said he is willing to dispense with it if the British government can come up with something else that will deliver the same objectives.

What are the objectives of the backstop?

The task as far as Dublin and therefore Brussels is concerned is to avoid a hard border, including any physical infrastructure or additional related checks and controls, on the island of Ireland. The arrangements should also support north-south cooperation and the all-island economy for the protection of the 1998 Good Friday agreement. In essence, it comes down to little or nothing changing as a result of Brexit.

Is that the UK’s aim too?

Theresa May agreed with these objectives in December 2017 in a joint report with the EU. But her successor has burst into the negotiations with an entirely different outlook.

Johnson accepts there should be an arrangement that avoids border infrastructure but his government has backpedalled from the pledge to avoid checks that would be related to the imposition of a regulatory border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, described that aim as a “false test” this week while speaking in Madrid. Barclay described the EU approach as “purist” in seeking “to have no impact on the island of Ireland economy or north-south trade”.

“This could only be achieved through never leaving parts of the single market and customs union, for any checks would fall foul of an alternative that involves no checks at all,” he said.

Q&A What is a Northern Ireland-only backstop? Show Hide The British government’s version of Brexit involves the UK ultimately leaving the single market and customs union, requiring the return of a range of checks on goods crossing the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The “backstop” is intended as a standstill placeholder to ensure such checks do not have to be imposed between Brexit happening with a deal, and the start of a new free trade agreement yet to be negotiated between the UK and the EU. Theresa May's withdrawal agreement proposed keeping the whole of the UK in a shared customs territory with the EU during this period. An alternative idea involves only Northern Ireland staying in the EU’s customs territory. That would place a customs border in the Irish Sea. May described it as a threat to the constitutional integrity of the UK, but the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, has opened the current talks by proposing an all-Ireland agri-food zone. The suggestion is that he will seek to quietly build on that with further NI-only arrangements. Given an NI-only backstop was an EU proposal in the first place, the U-turn would be warmly welcomed in Brussels, although attempts to give the Northern Ireland assembly a veto on its continuation would not be acceptable, and the DUP would be unlikely to support the prime minister in such a move in parliament. If there is a no-deal Brexit, then there is no backstop. Daniel Boffey

What is the UK proposing?

The three documents delivered to the European commission this week are discussion documents, known as non-papers. They do not commit the UK to a specific policy solution but they do flesh out the government’s direction of travel.

One of the papers focuses on the use of technology and trusted traders’ schemes to facilitate customs checks and move them away from the Irish border. It is hoped that a large amount of trade flow could be pre-approved, for example.

A second paper proposes joint surveillance of the market in manufactured goods, and severe penalties for those who are seeking to import into either market goods that are not compliant. The aim is to reassure the EU that if the UK diverges from the bloc’s standards in goods, sub-standard products will not flood into the single market through the backdoor of the Irish border.

Brexit: Johnson rejects Macron's two-week deadline for backstop plan Read more

A final paper looks to flesh out the one proposal from the UK with which the EU is content, which is the need for an all-Ireland sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) or agrifood zone. Approximately 30% of the goods passing through the border are agricultural. Maintaining a single regulatory zone would go some way to ensuring the flow of trade is uninterrupted.

What is the EU’s response?

With just six weeks to go before the UK is due to leave the EU, there is despair at the sudden recasting of the problem at hand. Dublin insists it will not accept a deal that involves additional checks on the island of Ireland, believing it will impact on the all-island economy and create targets for those looking for an excuse to re-engage in terrorist activity.

Additionally, some of the technology that would be used to facilitate customs procedures will not be ready for at least three years and the UK does not have a good record in delivering IT programmes. Yet the the standstill transition period ends in December 2020. What would ensure the avoidance of a hard border on 1 January 2021? The Irish government has said it cannot live on a promise.