May’s “deal” was nothing short of abject surrender. That was obviously totally unacceptable.
How was it abject surrender?
What does the Brexit deal contain?
The long Withdrawal Agreement (on the terms of the UKs exit) and shorter Political Declaration (on the future relationship) were the result of nearly two years of negotiations between London and Brussels. The deal was approved by the British government and the other 27 EU countries in November 2018
The legally-binding Withdrawal Agreement would establish a transition or implementation period to run after Brexit until the end of 2020, during which many existing arrangements would stay in place.
Although no longer an EU member, the UK would still have to conform to EU rules during this period. The transition can be extended for up to one or two years, with a decision taken by mutual consent before July 1, 2020.
Critics of the deal argue that far from taking back control a key pro-Brexit referendum slogan the UK would be surrendering it to the EU. It would be outside the EUs institutions with no formal say over rules it would have to follow.
The advantage, however, it that this avoids a cliff-edge Brexit, giving people and businesses time to adapt to the UK outside the EU. It also allows more time to reach a final deal
Regarding the financial obligation the EU made it clear from the outset that its about settling the bill for commitments undertaken and its been argued that to renege on these would seriously damage the UKs international reputation.
The controversial part was tWithdrawal Agreement envisages a backstop mechanism to guarantee an open frontier between Northern Ireland in the UK, and EU member the Republic of Ireland. This is seen as necessary given the different tariffs and regulatory standards likely to result from the UKs decision to leave the EUs single market and customs union.
Under the deal, the whole of the UK would remain in a single customs territory seen as a temporary customs union with the EU until at least July 1, 2020. This could be extended or terminated, but only by mutual agreement. Tariff arrangements would be the same as now.
Note mutual consent
The lack of ability to leave the backstop unilaterally has particularly enraged the pro-Brexit camp. They have argued that UK independence is seriously compromised if customs union membership is indefinite.
The British government has said that this would be highly unlikely as neither side would want it. The EU is anxious to stop the UK exploiting backstop arrangements to engage in unfair competition via back-door customs union membership
It was not abject surrender in any way but the only way to honor the Good Friday agreement.
Do YOU know of any way to honor the promise that the UK made in the Good Friday agreement and also have England - Wales out of the EU while Ireland remains in the EU?