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The excellent @ShippersUnbound reports today that May’s “plan B” is to try and solve the backstop through a bilateral deal with Ireland thetimes.co.uk/article/35b951… - making the issue of the Irish border a bilateral one is unlikely to work 
When UK leaves the EU, the Irish border becomes the EU’s external border. This is not only a bilateral Ireland-UK issue. It is an EU27 issue, also about protecting integrity of the single market (see Dec EUCO). Any solution needs to be compatible with EU law, and viable for EU27
Because of this, while an overall solution may well involve bilateral aspects, the need for any solution, if it is to be deemed credible, to address the purpose and substance of the backstop remains
If this is indeed May’s plan B, what should concern MPs and ministers is that 2 years into these talks, the PM (or whoever comes up with these ideas) continues to ignore key points of substance that have been repeatedly made (including directly in Dec EUCO conclusions)
69 days to Brexit.
p.s. the Irish edition of the Sunday Times contains a quote from a senior Irish Government source saying the bilateral treaty proposal is “not something we would entertain”
