Backstop ‘a rioters’ charter’

MEASURES in the Brexit deal to prevent a hard border with Ireland are a “rioters’ charter”, Leave campaigners have warned.

Plans for a “backstop” temporary customs arrangement could become permanent and hamper trade with the rest of the world, Brexiteers fear.

And it provides a perverse incentive to encourage violence in Northern Ireland that the plan is intended to prevent.

Leave campaigner and author Lee Rotherham said: “The more you dig into it, the more this looks like the most flawed EU treaty since the eurozone.”

Fresh analysis of Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU exit agreement shows an escape clause in the event of “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties”. A solution acceptable to both sides can be ignored.

Dr Rotherham said: “It perversely incentivises the scenario its supporters say it’s intended to prevent.

“I’m surprised that the Dublin government is backing it. But then again, the Republic gets hit by an extra £1.3billion bill from the EU in a no-deal scenario. Maybe self-interest is in play.”