WHAT’S NEW

CUSTOMS Northern Ireland to stay part of UK customs territory and benefit from UK trade deals. Customs checks on goods crossing between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Border is now in the Irish Sea

ANALYSIS: To keep the Northern Irish border with the Republic open, Mrs May agreed to a backstop that would have put all the UK in a customs union with the EU. The consequence was to constrain the scope for post-Brexit trade deals. What replaces it is a fudge, but one which allows the UK to set its own tariffs, opening the door to new deals. Legally, Northern Ireland remains in the UK’s customs territory and will benefit from any lower tariffs on imports agreed in the new deals. In practice, Northern Ireland will be part of the EU’s customs zone, paying different tariffs depending on the destination of goods. VERDICT: Pragmatic solution to liberate UK from the hated backstop and allows for trade deals. SINGLE MARKET Northern Ireland to stay aligned to EU rules on goods and agriculture. ANALYSIS: Keeps Northern Ireland effectively inside single market when it comes to agricultural and industrial goods regulations. Much of the 64 pages of the new protocol is made up of lists of the EU rules that Northern Ireland will have to follow after Brexit. This was Mr Johnson’s first major concession and done with the DUP’s agreement. Without such an arrangement, the problem of keeping open a border - particularly for farming – had seemed insurmountable. VERDICT: A necessary compromise. VAT Northern Ireland to follow EU VAT rules ANALYSIS: UK to enforce the rules and collect the taxes, but after Brexit Northern Ireland will have to accept EU rules on VAT. In theory that would make it impossible for Northern Ireland to benefit from VAT rates to below the EU minimum, unlike rest of UK. However there is one exemption, an opt out for sanitary products to allow him to reduce VAT rates to zero, from five per cent now, to fulfil a referendum pledge. VERDICT: A win on sanitary products, but more EU alignment for Northern Ireland. CONSENT A vote every four years for Stormont ANALYSIS: A major objection to the ‘anti-democratic’ backstop was that there was no way out. A new ‘consent mechanism’ gives the Northern Ireland Assembly the chance to vote on the new customs and single market rules four years after the end of transition. If the new regime is approved by a simple majority of members then another vote would take place every four years. If there was cross community support – approval from a majority of unionists AND nationalists there would not be another vote for eight years. If the assembly voted down the new regime, there would be a two-year buffer period before the rules lapsed. What the DUP wanted was a vote in advance of the Boris deal coming into force, with majorities required on both sides of the divide.

VERDICT: A significant concession from the EU that allows for a way out of the backstop, but not enough for the DUP.