Pro-union Brexit deal set to inflame border concerns
Posted by Jim on December 8, 2017
As a draft deal on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union was
being parsed today, unionists appeared to have won dramatic changes,
heavily eroding a previous commitment to no regulatory divergence along
the Irish border and adding clear guarantees of no regulatory barriers
between the north of Ireland and Britain.
All sides involved in the talks spoke of having achieved their desired
goals. DUP leader Arlene Foster said her party had won “six substantive
changes” to the text on the Irish border in overnight talks, ensuring
there would be “no red line down the Irish Sea”.
Despite major contradictions in the text, Brussels officials and the
governments in Dublin and London proclaimed themselves satisfied with
the outcome, which permits negotiations to move forward to the specifics
of trade agreements.
DUP spokesman Sammy Wilson said the agreement ensured the north of
Ireland would leave the European Union, its customs union and single
market “along with the rest of the United Kingdom”, and that there would
be no customs or trade barrier between the north of Ireland and Britain.
He also claimed his party had defeated Sinn Fein’s call for designated
special status for the north of Ireland, which would not be separated
“constitutionally, politically, economically or regulatory from the rest
of the United Kingdom”.
The text makes copious references to the “1998 [Good Friday] Agreement”
and the principle of consent — the requirement of a majority of
citizens in the Six Counties to support any future constitutional change
— even though voters in the north of Ireland soundly rejected Brexit
and, polls indicate, continue to do so.
In another apparent contradiction, Dublin said the final wording of the
agreement preserves the promise of “full regulatory alignment” between
the North and South of Ireland.
It pointed to a section of the text which declared that in the absence
of an overall agreement, “the United Kingdom will maintain full
alignment with those rules… which support North-South cooperation, the
all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement.”
However, that statement appears to be a significant dilution of the
situation earlier this week. The deal also goes on, in the next
paragraph, to spell out the opposite case — “the United Kingdom will
ensure that no new regulatory barriers develop between Northern Ireland
and the rest of the United Kingdom unless, consistent with the 1998
Agreement, the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly agree that
distinct arrangements are appropriate for Northern Ireland.”
This appears to provide an extraordinary veto on trade deals to the
devolved Stormont Assembly and Executive, which collapsed in January,
despite there being no indication that they will return.
The agreement also specifies that a separate strand of the negotiations
in phase two will be concerned with Irish issues. It says this work will
also address issues arising from “Ireland’s unique geographical
situation”, including the transit of Irish goods through Britain and
Ireland to markets in mainland Europe.
British Prime Minister May said the deal would ensure “no hard border”
in Ireland and added the deal was a “significant improvement”.
A Dublin government spokesman said the negotiations had preserved the
Common Travel Area, the Good Friday Agreement “and crucially obtaining a
guarantee that there will be no hard border.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it was a “significant day” for Ireland.
“We have achieved all that we set out to achieve in phase one of these
negotiations,” he told a press conference in Government Buildings in
Dublin. “I am satisfied that sufficient progress has now been made on
Irish issues, the parameters have now been set and they are good.”
He said Ireland’s focus would now move to phase two of the negotiations.
Mr Varadkar said his government would remain “fully engaged and
vigilant” throughout the process.
“This is not the end but it is the end of the beginning,” he added.