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Friday, 21 June 2019

Lorand BartelsDr Lorand Bartels has been appointed to a Government Advisory Group formed to explore alternative arrangements to help replace the Northern Ireland backstop by the end of 2020.

The Technical Alternative Arrangements Advisory Group comprises a team of technical experts in customs and trade to test ideas on workable alternatives to the Northern Ireland backstop.  The Group is the first of three domestic advisory groups that the Government announced earlier this year. The second will be comprised of business and trade unions, and the third made up of parliamentarians.

These groups will help inform the UK’s negotiations with the EU on developing alternative arrangements to the Northern Ireland backstop, set out in the Withdrawal Agreement, with the aim of replacing it by December 2020 so that it is never needed.

The first meeting of the Technical Alternative Arrangements Advisory Group took place on 20 June, and was co-chaired by Brexit Secretary, Steve Barclay, and Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jesse Norman.

Dr Bartels was Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on International Trade, and has previously given evidence to a number of Government committees including the the EU Financial Affairs Sub-Committee, the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights and the European Scrutiny Committee.

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