Q&A;: The Irish border Brexit backstop
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As the UK races towards its Brexit date in March 2019, one question is being asked louder and louder - how do you solve a problem like the Irish border?
The UK and the EU both agree they want to avoid a hard border but can't agree on how to do that.
An important part of the negotiation is the "backstop" - but it's been the source of much controversy and has never been far from the headlines.
But just what is the backstop and why does it matter?
Go on then, what is the backstop?
The UK government has said it doesn't want a hard Irish border. The EU has said it doesn't want a hard border. But how to guarantee such a thing in the complex world of Brexit negotiations? Well, you could try to put up a safety net.
The backstop solution is that safety net - an arrangement that will apply to the Irish border if a wider deal or technological solution cannot keep it as frictionless as it is today.
The UK and the EU would prefer to solve the Irish border issue through an overarching economic and security deal. However the UK's current red lines, which include leaving the customs union and the single market, make that very difficult and could lead to no deal at all.
The reason why an agreement on the backstop is so important is that the EU won't agree to a transitional period and substantive trade talks until it is in place.
So, what has been agreed on the backstop?
The UK and the EU agree one is needed - they both signed up to it in December 2017.
There's also agreement on what it needs to achieve - maintaining cross-border cooperation, supporting the all-island economy and protecting the Good Friday peace agreement.
But beyond that there, well, there are major differences between the two sides.
What is the EU view?
The EU has proposed a backstop that would mean Northern Ireland staying in the EU customs union, large parts of the single market and the EU VAT system.
The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has continually emphasised that this backstop can only apply to Northern Ireland.
And that's a problem in the UK?
That's an understatement.
If the backstop only applies to Northern Ireland, then the customs and regulatory border is essentially drawn down the middle of the Irish Sea. And any separate status for Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK is seen as potentially damaging to the union as a whole.
As such, Theresa May has continually rejected the EU's proposal saying it would threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK.
She suggested a backstop that would see the UK as a whole remaining aligned with the EU customs union for a limited time after 2020.
Her proposal, published in June, contains nothing about single market regulatory issues, which are probably more important than customs in terms of maintaining a soft border.
How did the EU react to that?
With scepticism. Michel Barnier said it cannot even qualify as a backstop since the issue of regulatory alignment is not addressed.
However, he did not entirely rule out some sort of long-term customs relationship with the UK.
Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar said that the backstop cannot have a time limit.
And what's the latest? How do talks move forward?
With great difficulty. The Customs Bill amendments passed at Westminster gives the prime minister very little room to manoeuvre on the backstop.
One of the amendments explicitly prevents Northern Ireland staying in the customs union, as per the EU's proposal. Theresa May has already rejected that suggestion so that not be such a big deal - but the EU backstop also proposed that EU law on VAT should continue to apply to Northern Ireland.
This was also explicitly prevented in one of the amendments and that could be a problem, as the UK outside the EU VAT system could mean VAT processes have to happen at the border.
The UK's position in regard to ongoing participation in the EU VAT area has never been clear up until now.
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So the backstop is dead?
No - the UK is still committed to having a backstop, just not the one outlined by the EU, but someone is going to have to soften their red lines.
Franklin Dehousse, a former judge at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), has floated a compromise.
He suggests that the EU should extend the backstop to the whole of the UK but with substantial strings attached such as a role for the ECJ, continuing budget contributions from the UK and partial free movement of people.
And if a compromise can't be reached?
If there is no backstop then there is no Withdrawal Agreement and no transition period. That means a hard, possibly chaotic, Brexit. The two sides have, at most, six months to make sure that doesn't happen.
