EU leaders are considering a commitment to continue negotiating a trade deal with the U.K. even if the Irish backstop comes into force - to prove that they want it to be temporary. (1)
This is part of a two-stage reassurance process that will start at the December summit and could continue into January. It’s spelled out in draft summit conclusions circulating this evening. (2)
Some will quibble that this isn’t a legally binding commitment - yet - and that it’s only making explicit something that’s implied in the Withdrawal Agreement, a document that WILL NOT BE RENEGOTIATED. (3)
And it’s just a draft but a clear sense of the direction the EU and U.K. are going in to provide the House of Commons with reassurance on the backstop. (4)
