Tail gate issue

[Kieron]

Hi on opening the tail gate the other day and placing some wellies on the lower tail gate I heard a noise similar to a bottle of wine dropping on concrete
On further inspect I noticed that steel pipe work that runs from one side to the other under plastic hinged part had snapped off where it renters the near side of the tailgate
Any ideas what this is for and is it important that I repair it ?

Thanks all