The Irish Border question
I am one of those who argued before the event that the Irish border would be a difficult problem in the event of a Leave vote. This is what I wrote on the subject on this blog the day before the referendum.
However, given the result of that referendum, as I wrote here a few days ago,
"the country voted Leave and now we have to find a solution to the Irish border which doesn't wreck the economy of both halves of Ireland, sabotage the EU customs union, prevent Britain from striking trade deals, or make a nonsense of UK immigration policy.
In the face of an enormous wave of pessimism about this, Hugh Bennett's excellent article,
"It's time to stop doom-mongering over the Irish border - the solutions are already out there"
is a refreshing change in taking a positive look for solutions rather than giving up and just recounting the problems."
Interestingly enough, several possible practical solutions were actually put forward in a report commissioned by the European parliament,
Smart Border 2.0: Avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland for Customs control and the free movement of persons."
Since I previously wrote about this and first posted the links above the chorus of concerned articles about the Irish border has become all the more overwhelming in both the press and on social media. In some cases it is coming from people who raised less fuss about this issue than I did before the referendum, but after the event, are in danger of appearing to use it to undermine the result. What is even more unfortunate is that they have done so in what almost looks like a co-ordinated move at the same time as some of those negotiating on the EU side seem to be trying to back away from, or at the very least harden their stance on the Irish border compared with, the deal struck in December.
Tom Harris, a former Labour MP, wrote in the Telegraph this week that
"Remainer scaremongering about the Irish border is becoming actually dangerous"
and although that would not have been my preferred language - because the problem is real and the last thing we need to do is ratchet up the hysteria level - I do think he has a point about the need to look for ways to implement successfully the deal agreed last December instead of trying to use the problem as a Trojan horse to sabotage the electorate's decision.
If the political will is there on both sides, solutions can be found to the problems of the Irish border which gives Britain the ability to strike trade deals without wrecking the economies of Ireland, undermining the integrity of either the UK or creating material loopholes in the borders of the UK or of the EU single market.
It will involve compromise on both sides but it can be done. The December agreement is a good start.
However, if either side adopts unreasonable positions - and some of the things coming from certain Brussels negotiators in the past 72 hours do appear to me unreasonable - and refuses to change, we could end up with something I had previously thought as unlikely as it is undesirable - that the UK walks away from the EU with no deal.
Those who have made speeches in the past couple of days which may have given the EU the impression that Britain might abandon Brexit rather than walk away if the only deal on the table is intolerable are, in my humble opinion playing with fire and they are not doing either Britain or the European Union any favours.
However, given the result of that referendum, as I wrote here a few days ago,
"the country voted Leave and now we have to find a solution to the Irish border which doesn't wreck the economy of both halves of Ireland, sabotage the EU customs union, prevent Britain from striking trade deals, or make a nonsense of UK immigration policy.
In the face of an enormous wave of pessimism about this, Hugh Bennett's excellent article,
"It's time to stop doom-mongering over the Irish border - the solutions are already out there"
is a refreshing change in taking a positive look for solutions rather than giving up and just recounting the problems."
Interestingly enough, several possible practical solutions were actually put forward in a report commissioned by the European parliament,
Smart Border 2.0: Avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland for Customs control and the free movement of persons."
Since I previously wrote about this and first posted the links above the chorus of concerned articles about the Irish border has become all the more overwhelming in both the press and on social media. In some cases it is coming from people who raised less fuss about this issue than I did before the referendum, but after the event, are in danger of appearing to use it to undermine the result. What is even more unfortunate is that they have done so in what almost looks like a co-ordinated move at the same time as some of those negotiating on the EU side seem to be trying to back away from, or at the very least harden their stance on the Irish border compared with, the deal struck in December.
Tom Harris, a former Labour MP, wrote in the Telegraph this week that
"Remainer scaremongering about the Irish border is becoming actually dangerous"
and although that would not have been my preferred language - because the problem is real and the last thing we need to do is ratchet up the hysteria level - I do think he has a point about the need to look for ways to implement successfully the deal agreed last December instead of trying to use the problem as a Trojan horse to sabotage the electorate's decision.
If the political will is there on both sides, solutions can be found to the problems of the Irish border which gives Britain the ability to strike trade deals without wrecking the economies of Ireland, undermining the integrity of either the UK or creating material loopholes in the borders of the UK or of the EU single market.
It will involve compromise on both sides but it can be done. The December agreement is a good start.
However, if either side adopts unreasonable positions - and some of the things coming from certain Brussels negotiators in the past 72 hours do appear to me unreasonable - and refuses to change, we could end up with something I had previously thought as unlikely as it is undesirable - that the UK walks away from the EU with no deal.
Those who have made speeches in the past couple of days which may have given the EU the impression that Britain might abandon Brexit rather than walk away if the only deal on the table is intolerable are, in my humble opinion playing with fire and they are not doing either Britain or the European Union any favours.
Comments