Theresa May Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg 
The government will set up three advisory groups to help develop arrangements that could be used from the beginning of 2021, when Britain is due to leave a post-Brexit transition period, the Brexit Department said in an emailed statement. It will also dedicate 20 million pounds ($26 million) to testing potential technologies.
The measures are aimed at pacifying pro-Brexit members of May’s Conservative Party who want the premier to broker an alternative to the so-called Irish backstop, the default arrangements that will set in at the end of 2020 if the two sides can’t agree on a trade deal. The Brexiteers hate the backstop, saying it could tie Britain indefinitely to EU rules.
May is trying to win support for her exit deal in a make-or-break March 12 vote in the House of Commons, which rejected it by a historic margin in January. Brexiteers want the backstop dropped, and May’s latest proposals -- and signals from the EU -- suggest it won’t be. Instead, she hopes to win their support with a pledge to develop the technological solution during a 21-month transition period that’s due to follow Brexit on March 29, thus ensuring the backstop is never needed.
The latest announcement is an overture to a group of Tory lawmakers from both sides of the Brexit divide who unified behind a technological approach in January. Their proposal is called the “ Malthouse compromise,” after the lawmaker who brought the warring factions together.
The three groups proposed by the Brexit ministry would be a panel of experts in trade and customs, a group to engage with businesses and trade unions, and a third group to consult lawmakers from across Parliament. DM