This from the always reliable @tconnellyRTE indicates that the UK side has not made the most of the rebate idea. The UK could/should offer to use the Feb18 backstop as the text to work from, but adding the rebate on top of it and negotiating tweaks to problematic aspects (such as
@tconnellyRTE whether EU staff can be present in Irish Sea inspections, exact role of ECJ, and of course nature of say for Northern Irish democracy). The rebate itself is largely a unilateral matter - and should be presented to domestic public as the way to secure for NI benefits from UK trade
policy. In the limit: suppose UK simply said, "fine, we'll take the Feb18 NI-only backstop, and as it happens we will also introduce a tax rebate/subsidy scheme - can you just confirm that if we do it in this or that particular way, you won't challenge it under int'l trade law?"
