Thread by @atatimelikethis

We need to talk about "The Backstop"
It's become another one of these Leave unicorns that simply needs debunking.

There is no taking the "Backstop off the table". Those saying you can are simply causing more confusion in an attempt to run down the clock.

Let's look at why.

There's an irreconcilable problem for Brexit - the Good Friday Agreement. As you know - Peace Settlement in Northern Ireland. And it stipulates that there can be no border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

And we're in a customs union. Leaving it requires a customs border.

Brexit ultras have known about this problem since the start but have been in full denial about solving it.

The solution is simple. Either they turn over the GF Agreement or they impose a border down the Irish Sea.

This nonsense is because they don't want to do either.

They first tried to overturn the GFA. As early as 2016 nutters like Kate Hoey were suggesting cancelling it.

That won them no friends. Particularly in America which is where they have their trade unicorns

Then they denied the border. Claiming often there was already a border, that we had different currencies.

More lies of course. We don't have a customs border because we're in a customs union. Leaving it is what creates the problem

Then they created unicorn technology that would somehow solve the border with customs checks through cameras and computers.

Unfortunately this has never been tried and the cameras would be targets for militant attack.

So finally, exasperated by the inability to find a solution, the EU and our Government quite reasonably said that if no other solution were found we would need to stay in a customs union until one was found.

That's called the Backstop.

This then is now the thing Leave Ultras want to remove.

Yet they have no solutions to solve the reason for it being there in the first place.

In fact if the Backstop could be removed then Brexiters would have no fear of it since there would be a solution for the problem of their making.

Brexit ultras want people to think removing the backstop is easy and that the EU is stubborn.

The reality is they can no more remove the backstop than they can remove the border.

And backstop fuss runs down the clock... So they talk about it.

They are the same thing.