published Nov 14, 2018, 4:07:26 PM, by Nikos Chrysoloras and Kitty Donaldson
(Bloomberg) —

“Dismayed, disgusted:” two words used by one Conservative euroskeptic to describe the kind of Brexit deal that Theresa May signed off on with European Union negotiators.

The text confirms their worst fears. In fact, the deal that committed Brexiteers will be asked to vote for in Parliament doesn’t even try to hide how incompatible it is with their mantra of taking back control. Nor will it in any way appease the Northern Irish lawmakers supporting May, whose “blood-red line” is that they not be treated differently from the rest of the U.K.

Andrea Jenkyns MP #StandUp4Brexit @andreajenkyns Dismayed, disgusted. MPs get your letters in. The only way to save #Brexit is a new leader. The fight continues..
Sent via Twitter Lite.

It’s all spelled out in this fact sheet posted on European Commission’s website entitled called “Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.”

Under the terms of the Brexit agreement reached on Wednesday, the EU and U.K have to find a magical solution to keep the Irish border open by mid-2020. A solution which they have failed to find over thousands of hours of negotiations over the past 18 months.

If they don’t, the U.K will have to choose between two equally unappealing options for Brexit purists, of which there are many as 80 or more in the House of Commons depending on how you rank their fervor.

1. Request an extension of the transition. This prolongs what Brexiteers see as being a “vassal state” or “slave state.”2. Stay in a customs union with the EU, thus restricting its trade policy freedom, and, on top of that, accept that there will be specific policy areas where Northern Ireland will be following EU’s rules, and therefore diverge from Great Britain.

The provisions of the backstop which may infuriate them the most are the follow:

The explicit reference to the need for checks on goods travelling from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland The U.K. commits to align its competition rules with those of the EU, and also align its commercial and tariffs policy with the bloc Pulling the plug from the backstop requires a joint decision by the EU and the U.K., meaning that Britain can’t unulaterally change its mind “For issues related to EU law concepts outlined in the Withdrawal Agreement,” including “aspects” of the backstop solution, the European Court of Justice “remains the ultimate arbiter”

Even if the backstop isn’t “meant to be used,” as Michel Barnier said, there’s no guarantee that it won’t.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net ;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Emma Ross-Thomas at erossthomas@bloomberg.net ;Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net ;Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net
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