What is the Backstop?

[HSarah]

I can't find a clear explanation of what this actually is- can anyone enlighten me? My family are all telling me different things.

To understand the issue in Northern Ireland you need to understand it from both sides.

If we assume population is roughly split 50:50 nationist and unionist..this is a sweeping generalisation as many ppl sit on the fence like moi :)

The GFA protects the rights of both sides:

For nationist identifying ppl in that there is no infrastructure on the land border between NI and ROI...and we all love being able to drive to Dublin with no restriction. Back in the troubles you were stopped on your journey bu the british army..not pleasant for anyone regardless of identity.
To have customs officials there now would not last 5 mins before ppl took exception to the British creating a border in their perceived country and they will probably get shot. When that happens the british army will get drafted in to protect the customs officials and hey ho back to 1970s style bombing all over the place.

To put a border in the sea has the same effect only it will be the unionist side who take exception. Remember they have rights as well to feel part of their own perceived county which in this case is the rest of uk. You cant just say shut up and keep quiet to those ppl.
They want to get on a plane or boat and not have to show passport or questionned or treated like an immigrant travelling within their own country. To blame it on the DUP is a tad ignorant as they only represent a portion of unionist voters. There are other unionist parties and indeed unionist people who never vote so lets just forget about the DUP for a moment.
Imagine travelling from London to Birmingham and having to stop at customs and show passport, declare goods etc..well thats how it will feel to unionists.
So those customs points at stena line in Belfast and Larne etc ..well the trouble will probably start up there only from the unionist side..and the nationalists will gloat at the unionists so there will be a few bombs and shootings thrown in between them and sure then it will all just kick off again.

Basically neither way will work because one side will be cut off from their fellow countrymen

Like others have said its just a pity all of this wasnt strongly highlighted to voters everywhere in uk before the referendum cos either way NI is screwed in terms of the peace process.

Oh and the technology suggestion? If it really works then why hasnt it already been implemented at calais jungle to stop illegal immigration?

@blubberyboo , it was strongly highlighted. Repeatedly. But twats like Faridge succeeded in shutting down discussion of it by saying it was a disgusting threat and how dare people suggest that it could lead to violence. And no one on the Remain side challenged this strongly enough.
In a weird way it's almost nice that a lot of adults in England are too young to remember what it was like. Almost. Fucking with the GFA is one of the most unpatriotic and disgraceful things anyone could do.

was just wondering earlier why this doesn't also apply to Gibraltar? Given that they will also have a land border with the EU

I always thought Gibraltar was an island. Every day is a school day.

Oh and the technology suggestion? If it really works then why hasnt it already been implemented at calais jungle to stop illegal immigration?

Presumably because checking for people hiding in the back of trucks on a border between EU member states is an entirely different concept to checking that importers of goods between the EU and a third country have paid the correct VAT and duties on the goods. That's what a hard border is all about - the 'people' part will be exactly the same unless and until we impose restrictions on EU citizens.

There's no connection between checking for people-smuggling and (at a basic level) checking that VAT returns are correct. And the proposed/imaginary 'technological solution' is mainly concerned with checking that VAT returns (and declarations of duty) are correct.

Checking for people- and contraband (drugs etc)-smuggling will continue to go on at the same level whether we're in the EU or a third country - except that staff currently doing that will probably be fucking about collecting £5 duty on an over-the-limit bottle of perfume, or checking that all 38 pages of a loading manifest have been signed.

A tiny proportion of non-EU imports are physically checked by Customs, the proportion will drop even lower when their resources are spread thinner (and obviously current 'EU-imports' will/may be treated exactly the same as we currently treat non-EU imports). Most (non-EU) imports go through without any problem because the customs declarations are assumed to be genuine - like most Self-Assessment tax returns and VAT returns go through without question because they're assumed to be genuine.

I've not had a question, visit or query from HMRC in the 20+ years I've been submitting returns for my current business and for myself for Income Tax, Corporation Tax, VAT, PAYE and a couple of minor things I won't go into. They check a tiny proportion of things and try really hard to target the potentially dodgy fuckers. It's exactly the same principle - they only physically check a tiny proportion of lorry loads.

The twitter thread by comedian Patrick Kielty the other month taught me a lot in simple terms that I could understand why the GFA will be put into jeopardy if NI/Ireland have a hard border.

The twitter thread is typed out in this Mirror article. www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/patrick-kielty-schools-boris-johnson-13328777