Borders and Good Friday

Let’s just look back a few months, or is it years, this is so long and drawn out after the people voted to Leave the EU.     

In summary, post Brexit, the UK wanted to keep the current Irish Border open.  I think we are all agreed on that.  But so the Republic of Ireland also wanted the border open.  I think that too is an agreed position   So far so good.      

But then the EU basically insisted that, in order to preserve the integrity of the EU internal single market, keeping the border open was not possible as there was no current electronic solution acceptable to the EU – and what would be the EU’s ‘hard’ border, would be a threat to peace.  Of course, the feet dragging EU will quite possibly never find any solution acceptable in spite of similar situation existing around the world where there are “hard borders”.    

But here is where the EU are being cynical.  Having similar (electronic) EU-UK border solutions at the Irish Sea, where the Britain – N.Ireland 200-year old internal market must now have (EU imposed) barriers, is to Brussels/Dublin ‘peaceful’, despite several times more trade passing over it electronically than at the current Irish Border.    

And by the way, the EU putting obstacles in the way of an open current Irish Border border does not contravene the GFA as there was no mention of keeping the Irish Border open within the Good Friday Agreement.  

But moving the Irish Border to the Irish Sea and setting up EU customs/tariffs between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, without the consent of the Northern Ireland Assembly, does contravene the GFA - as a 3rd party (the EU) is attempting to control north-south affairs – and EU member the RoI would clearly beneficially gain from that 3rd party.

The GFA is an international treaty.  The WA international treaty does not overrule the GFA.   The EU and the UK agreed within the WA, via the Irish Protocol, that Northern Ireland is in the UK’s customs territory, and no customs duties will be within the UK.  This is now what the EU apparently now disputes.

So it is very clear to anyone who cares to look that it is the EU looking to knowingly contravene the GFA.  It is not the UK.   Nd the stooshie of the Internal market Bill?  Well it is there, if needed, to protect the integrity of the UK’s single market, and the GFA.  The only people who could possibly not agree with the UK having such a back up are those who still refuse to accept the will of the people.   

Just a final point, 88% of our GDP is generated by activity within the U.K., and unless you think that the other 12% will just disappear, (which of course it won’t), you need to stop being such a pessimist and doom monger.