the so-called backstop the guarantee the european union seeks from the u.k. that there shall be no hard border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland in case both sides the e.u. and the u.k. conduct read on a future trade relationship that would guarantee that there is no border between the u.k. and the republic of ireland so northern ireland and the republic of ireland and the reason may hopes to get additional guarantees or potentially even legal guarantees that the e.u. will only use this as a as an insurance policy and not trap the whole of the u.k. in some sort of a customs union and this is of course of a sticky issue what have ever you need has been saying about it. you had a number of member states who basically said look we will not touch the divorce deal the whole package and the backstop particularly irish prime minister the t.
and people on the streets as you have seen in the uk and in london that are on both sides of the argument. the truth of the matter is, and she keeps saying, you that want a different outcome and she s talking to her own party as much as the opposition, tell me your plan, right down your plan. there s no plan. the hard line exodus, they have no plan. hers is a plan that is being signed off by other leaders of the eu. she s having difficult over the backstop, the insurance policy that they hope will keep the invisible border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland which is still part of the uk. so that is basically what she is saying. the hard line brexit, the
well let s talk more about the divorce still in the conundrum facing theresa may we have derek scally with us correspondent for the irish times newspaper here in berlin derek good morning to you thank you for joining us we ve seen one of the biggest obstacles to the deal by both the e.u. and the u.k. on both sides has been the question of the border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland remind us what the backstop is and why this is been such a sticking point in the backs of is effectively and it s an insurance policy twenty years ago we had a peace agreement in the agreement was yes there is a sovereign border there but if we will keep it open we will keep it open for the thirty thousand people who commute back and forth to keep it open for the traders so that effectively we have one trading regime but of course of britain wants to leave the e.u. the free market and. this is going to cause. tremendous problem for traders for people who you re dealing with two different
get treaty on the table even if that means there will be a hard road that it s in the hands of the british side sorry the british government confirmed already said they re ready yes to this treaty on the table and they must be clear and the colleagues in the house of commons are asking for more clarification for more guarantees those european parliament could also ask for other ideas on the table even here in the house not everybody s happy about the lease treaty so take it or leave it but isn t isn t that you too harsh isn t there something that you could give some reason made to make her life easier it s not our main duty to make the life of the british comics easy my chop is to defend the interests of the four hundred forty million europeans and the achieved a lot in our negotiations that s why i want to defend this i want to keep this alive especially when we talk about the backstop which is so heavily criticised in london it is about the idea to avoid a hot border in northern irel
not only getting it through the cabinet today, it s also getting it thigh the parliament behind me. and the house had of commons are not looking like they re very happy with some of the details here, especially when it comes to the border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland. ahead of that vote, we ve heard from a number of lawmakers, opposition parties that they would vote against the agreement, which they haven t even seen, but based on the details they ve been given so far. so real challenges for theresa may in the days and weeks ahead. we have been hearing from some british officials saying that they want to have a second brexit referendum among the public. remember the reaction after the first one? some people were saying we didn t really know exactly what we were doing. so joining us here on set with axios a.m., nicholas johnston. what is the one big thing? trump s next chief.