Thread by @hayward_katy

The DUP & ERG claim there's an alternative to the #Protocol: ‘Mutual enforcement’.

Whilst it is a clever name (implying cooperation+ tough action), in reality it is really not viable.
Here's a brief thread.

TLDR: 'taking back control' was so 2016.

1/6
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/…

The primary intention of this model is to see the #border for the movement of goods shift from the Irish Sea to the Irish land border.

But to keep that border ‘invisible’, it has UK&IRL authorities enforcing the rules of the other jurisdiction.
🪄

2/6
centreforbrexitpolicy.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

Leaving all other considerations aside, it has to address the cornerstones of border management👇

We can see that it fails on all of them, i.e. there is no border to speak of.

It claims to work by ‘inverting the usual approach to customs enforcement’. This is indeed true😬

3/6

It justifies this in terms of the old chestnut of GATT Article XXI: ‘allowing the reasonable transgression of GATT rules on the basis of safeguarding public order’.⚠️

But 'security risk' is hardly a good grounding for the future trading/development of the island of Ireland.

4/6

A 2nd problem is that it means that neither the UK nor the EU are properly managing their external border.

And this has consequences for what is inside their borders.

This won't help the quest for juicy FTAs for Global Britain. Partners want to know what they are getting.

5/6

The trickiest border controls are for plant/animal-related products. To properly minimise these requires alignment.

This doc suggests EU shd recognise NI SPS checks as fully equivalent. Only hope of that is for NI not to diverge from these rules even if GB does...
#SquareOne
6/6