Customs arrangement would work for farmers.

It is unclear if any progress is being made behind the scenes on resolving the impasse on a withdrawal agreement for the UK to leave the EU in an orderly way. One idea that seemed to be gaining traction at the weekend was that the controversial backstop could be set aside in return for the UK agreeing to remain aligned with the EU customs union.

That would work for farmers on the island of Ireland and indeed protect UK farmers from having no market for their sheep meat as well as being undercut in the home market with cheap beef imports.

EU structure

There are two core pillars to the EU. The first is on customs where each member is part of a customs union that means there are no tariffs on trade between them and they have a common external tariff. This means that every member has the same tariff rate with non-members or third countries, and individual members cannot make their own trading arrangements, it is a one size fits all policy.

The second pillar is the single market where all members operate to the same production standards and people, money and goods are free to move without checks between each member state. This is referred to as the four freedoms: free movement between members of goods, services people and capital (money).

Brexit on people but not trade

If this idea was to gain traction it would mean that the main gain for the UK from Brexit would be getting control of its borders as outside the single market they would no longer have to allow the free movement of people. If they chose to remain in a customs alignment, it would mean the UK remains tied to EU trade deals and wouldn’t have the freedom to make its own independent trade deals. While that would be good news for farmers, it would be controversial for many that are advocating a complete split with the EU in the UK.

The UK Prime minister returns to parliament this week to begin the process of trying to salvage her withdrawal agreement which was rejected with such a huge majority last week. As we edge closer to the departure date of 29 March, much work has to be done to avoid the nightmare scenario of a no deal Brexit.