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What is described here is not what we proposed in #Malthouse, which does not rely on technology and instead uses existing customs simplifications and processes. news.sky.com/story/technolo…
What the article describes is in fact akin to what would be needed for the Government's proposed Facilitated Customs Arrangement (or frictionless "Schrodinger's" customs union) which would need to track every product in the economy to detemine its origin & destination.
That is because if all goods were not tracked under Facilitated Customs Arrangement the imported ones would be subject to national treatment discrimination which is a breach of the GATT agreement
What Home Office / Civil Service seem implicitly to be admitting is that there is no chance whatsoever of their preferred Facilitated Customs Arrangement alternative arrangements being ready in the time frame of the transition period of the Withdrawal Agreement.
That in turn shows that there is in fact no chance of us not ending up in the backstop with all its horrors if the Withdrawal Agreement package passes and this administration pursues its aims to "build on Single Customs Territory and have no checks on Rules of Origin".
That is why the Withdrawal Agreement is completely unacceptable - because it is indeed the trap for our country they keep denying. They know there is no plan they will implement to escape. Seems they simply don't want to. Which is why MPs are right to resist.
Future of country and Conservative Party depend on that resistance and the Government changing course.
Remember in their "Schrodinger's" customs union FCA proposal they say we can still do trade deals and charge different tariffs. That is what would require tracking of all goods. Much simpler to do proper behind the border administration of the different jurisdictions,
and eliminate tariffs with FTAs and advanced schemes for cumulation of rules of origin.
