Theresa May back to Brussels tomorrow for yet more Brexit talks. 

That’s after Leo Varadkar holds another round of meetings with EU leaders today. 

As those Brussels meetings with the Taoiseach take place, the British prime minister will spend a second day in the North meeting representatives of the five main Stormont parties. 

This latest round of meetings comes after May was given a mandate by the House of Commons last week to pursue an eleventh hour deal with the EU on the basis of the so-called ‘Malthouse Compromise’. 

Attempting to build support for the strategy, May told business leaders in Belfast yesterday that she intended to secure a deal that “commands broad support” as well as backing from a majority of MPs. 

So what is the Malthouse Compromise? Can it provide the basis of a Brexit breakthrough? And is anyone in Europe sounding optimistic about the latest incarnation of Britain’s Brexit plan? 

It became apparent earlier this month that the current incarnation of the border backstop had no chance of commanding a majority in the House of Commons, as the prime minister’s attempt to get her Withdrawal Agreement through was defeated by 230 votes. 

Last November her cabinet had backed a revised version of the backstop that would see Northern Ireland aligned to some rules of the single market if alternative solutions could not be found by the end of the Brexit transition period in 2020. 

That revised backstop plan, which would also effectively keep the whole of the UK in a customs union with the EU until both parties no longer deemed it necessary, was roundly rejected by Brexiteer MPs and the DUP. 

Critics of the plan feared it could leave the EU trapped in the arrangement for a prolonged period, leaving London unable to agree new trade deals with the rest of the world. 

So what’s the new plan? 

Last week those Brexiteer MPs lent their support to a new amendment proposing replacing the Irish backstop with unspecified “alternative arrangements”, as the proposal gained the support of a majority of the House of Commons. 

May said she would take this mandate back to Brussels and use it as a crowbar to try to reopen the sealed Withdrawal Agreement, which the EU has repeatedly said it would not do.

The prime minister has said she is now “engaging positively” with a series of proposals known as the Malthouse Compromise (we’ll get to the name later).

In simple terms, it would see the UK offer either the Plan A variation of a deal or a Plan B version. 

• Plan A would extend the Brexit transition period for a year until the end of 2021. The backstop would also be changed to become a “basic free trade agreement” with a commitment from all sides that there would be no hard border in Ireland. “Advanced customs and trade facilitation measures” would be employed at the border.
• Plan B would also extend the transition period to 2021 in order to allow the UK and EU prepare properly for a change to a no-deal relationship.

The rights of EU citizens resident in the UK would be guaranteed in all circumstances, according to the plan.