The root of the current Brexit negotiations impasse is this. In the Dec-2017 agreement the EU accepted that even in a backstop scenario, Northern Ireland would not have different customs & regulatory procedures from the UK. Then in Feb-2018 it reneged on that. As simple as that.
Mem:"In the absence of agreed solutions, the *United Kingdom* will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement."
Let's spell this out. In Dec-2017 the EU agreed to a backstop of the UK maintaining alignment of certain rules with the EU. Now (since Feb-2018, in fact) the EU's reneged on that & says a UK backstop is unacceptable & there must be a Northern Ireland only backstop instead/as well
It's quite bizarre that the UK govt has allowed the narrative to develop that it is attempting to wriggle out of the Dec-2017 deal when it's so clear & straightfwd that the UK's proposals (for goid or ill) reflect the Dec-2017 deal & the EU's slam-dunk reneged upon it.
Now I think the UK govt's backstop proposals go way beyond what we agreed in Dec-2017. But they are indisputably consistent with it. The EU's backstop proposals, by contrast, are indisputably at variance with the Dec-2017 agreement (since Northern Ireland-specific not UK-wide).
There's not much room for ambiguity or debate abt this. In Dec-2017 the EU agreed to a UK-wide backstop. Now it says a UK-wide backstop is unacceptable. So the EU has reneged on the Dec-2017 deal. It's as simple as that, & that's why the Brexit talks have broken down.
