Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether the Government has made an economic assessment of the Malthouse compromise proposals.

We have engaged with this proposal sincerely and positively, and the principle of alternative arrangements has already been accepted by the EU as a way out of the backstop. The Prime Minister and President Juncker agreed that our teams should hold further talks to find a way forward.

The Government has delivered on its commitment to provide appropriate analysis to Parliament. The analysis, published in November 2018, focuses on the long-term economic impacts after the UK’s new relationship with the EU comes into effect. It does not seek to capture any short-term changes and does not account for specific factors relating to varying border arrangements. The analysis does not model the Backstop as it is an insurance policy which neither side wish to use; and if triggered, would be explicitly temporary. For the same reason it is not practical to model alternatives to the backstop.