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Open Europe’s Henry Newman gave evidence to the House of Commons Exiting the European Union select committee on December 19.

Open Europe’s Director Henry Newman gave evidence to the House of Commons Exiting the European Union select committee on December 19. He discussed the progress of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU alongside Dr. Kirsty Hughes, Director of the Scottish Centre of European Relations; Catherine Barnard, Professor of EU Law at Cambridge University; and Sam Lowe, Research Fellow, Centre for European Reform. You can view a recording of the proceedings here.

On the issue of the Irish backstop and especially how and when it could be ended, Newman said, “There is a danger from the UK side to set an end date to the backstop… This would create a new negotiations cliff-edge.” He added that what is needed is greater clarity, as well as the implementation of “things that would not necessarily change the balance of how the backstop operates but would make a substantive difference on the UK side,” such as a role for Stormont institutions in Northern Ireland.

See Open Europe’s website for a brief summary of the session