So I reported this a fortnight ago from Downing St as the Cabinet was debating the Withdrawal Deal before Raab etc resigned...
The Sunday Times got hold of the actual wording: “the protocol would endure indefinitely...” HT @ShippersUnbound
My understanding is that this is the first half of a sentence or clause in the AG advice that concludes that the backstop can only be temporary in EU law, because Article 50, the basis for the backstop, cannot be the legal basis for a permanent relationship between EU & UK.
Indeed in Governmental briefings on this to MPs, much made of notion that if backstop in use, a Belfast company had free access to Single Market indefinitely, then say, an Italian competitor would go to ECJ & argue not allowed under Article 50. So could not last = temporary.
The signal here the Govt would dearly like MPs to notice is that Brexiter Attorney General and top QC Geoffrey Cox has been supportive, and has remained in post...
