Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

BREAKING…. Geoffrey Cox – "Let me make it clear, the legal risk as I set it out in my letter in Nov remains unchanged. #Brexit #BrexitVote pic.twitter.com/G7BJMX1NAF

— Matty 🇬🇧🇪🇺 (@Doozy_45) March 12, 2019

Nothing has changed. As predicted.

The backstop is the backstop is the backstop.  Because legally it has to be. And no matter how you play the legal language, there is no way around it.

It is impossible to have a backstop that one side can walk away from without consultation. If there is no trade deal after December 2020, and that is, given the painfully slow progress of the current government in the withdrawal phase, more than likely, the backstop will have to come into force.

Interesting to note that last night the leadership of the DUP was consulted on the outcome of the talks. The first ministers Scotland and Wales were not. Almost like we didn’t matter.

Make with the money, May!

So, how will they vote tonight?

Will the bribes of vast amounts of our money to Labour MPs’ constituencies in England work?

Will the DUP be satisfied? If so, will Rees Mogg take his line from them, as he has said he would?

Will May still be prime minister this time next week?

How did we get into this almighty mess?

Erm, yeah, I think

How soon can we escape?

WELL, THERE YOU HAVE IT…

"There’s no negotiation between the EU and UK, that negotiation is finished.”

The EU’s Deputy Chief Negotiator for Brexit Sabine Weyand says that the controversial 'backstop' was heavily shaped by British negotiators and that it will not be amended. pic.twitter.com/c5LRGJfmlY

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) January 28, 2019

Seriously, there is no point in a backstop if it is time limited or if one party can simply withdraw from it at will. The EU’s deputy chief negotiator has said that there is no change in the EU position.

James Felton, on Twitter, put up this picture with the following caption, which more or less perfectly describes the position of the Brit Prime Minister.

“Me again. You know the backstop.

The backstop I signed up to, yes.

After two years of painful negotiation, that backstop, yes.

The backstop you’ve repeatedly said is a red f***ing line, yes.

I was thinking – can we scrap it?

No?

Ok, same time again tomorrow.”

Oh, Theresa, if only you hadn’t got yourself entangled with the Dinosaur Unbelievers Party (DUP)! And you thought the worst thing you’d ever done was run through some field or other when you were a bairn?

**********

IT’S GOOD TO KNOW THAT THEY’VE THOUGHT THINGS THROUGH

ASTONISHING! The Government doesn't understand the consequences of its own Backstop Agreement. In the Backstop, the EU could offer a third country unilateral access to the UK market, but that third country would NOT be required to open up theirs to the UK! pic.twitter.com/EcUuLC4N7Q

— David van Rooyen (@DavidvanRooyen) December 5, 2018

CAKE, MORE CAKE… AND HOLDING ALL THE CAKE, I MEAN CARDS

There's been a lot of talk in the news about Brexit recently and you've probably heard a lot of words like 'backstop' and 'Chequers' – but what does it all mean? Here's one of RTÉ's political experts @RTENewsPaulC to explain. pic.twitter.com/93etaS2HO4

— RTÉ news2day (@news2dayRTE) September 26, 2018

RATION CARDS, I MEAN