The rogue state next door

You know that you’re in a new political dispensation when the leader of Fine Gael makes a statement about the Brits that I could have written in An Phoblacht twenty years ago.

However, that’s what Brexit has achieved on this island.

Mallow News had a well-aimed jibe at the current Tánaiste.

Joking aside, Dublin and Brussels are now looking down the barrel of the stark reality that they’re dealing with a rogue state apropos trade negotiations.

It is astonishing to observe the extent to which people at the heart of things in London don’t see to give, in the immortal words of John Bercow, a flying flamingo.

Dominic Cummins was a key strategist in the Vote Leave campaign and Chief Adviser to Boris (2019-2020).

His level of couldn’t care less honesty about Britain’s level of bad faith in the Brexit talks is breathtaking.

 

The “IM” (Internal Market Bill ) that he refers to is the legislation which the Northern Ireland secretary told the House of Commons that broke international law, but only in a “specific and limited way”.

Now Cummins is advocating “IM2”.

So here we have the key adviser, the guy in the room, telling Twitter that it was always the plan to renege on an international treaty once they had the election out of the way.

Just in case you’re not fully convinced about the accusation of British bad faith here is Cummins Tweeting yesterday that “cheating foreigners is a core part of the job.”

There IS a reason that in history they were known as “Perfidious Albion”.

The peerless Waterford Whispers caught the mood perfectly.

If the British government simply wants to wreck the whole Brexit deal, then Brussels and Dublin are faced with horrible choices.

In order to protect the Single Market on the island of Ireland will require a physical border.

This was always our concern as we looked over the hedge at the UK during the Brexit referendum campaign.

I wrote this for Bella Caledonia in February 2016, several months before the vote.

The re-imposition of a physical border on this island is impossible because of the Belfast Agreement.

Now, there is another unappealing option: to have customs checks at the Irish ports.

Of course, this would effectively remove a member state from the Single Market.

Of course, the Brits are fully aware of this conundrum, which is at the heart of their non-negotiation stance.

Maroš Šefčovič travelled to Northern Ireland and listened to the concerns of the business community and civil society.

 

These are unprecedented concessions by the EU to a third country.

The British response?

Rather rapidly, Lord Frost and the chaps in London then raised the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the Protocol.

John Crace in the Guardian summed it up rather well.

Boris and the boys know that the EU cannot go there on the ECJ,  as it would effectively dismantle the Single Market.

This new red line has produced some ill-disguised crowing from the DUP.

However, it highlights a growing cleavage between political unionism and the people they claim to represent.

No one raised the ECJ  with Maroš Šefčovič when he was speaking it the business community in the Six Counties.

It is beyond debate that this entire shitshow will raise support for those here who want a Border Poll.

The entire island of Ireland within the European Union eliminates the need for the Protocol.

Then the sea will form the border between both states.

For the avoidance of doubt, viewers in Scotland have their own programme.

That devolved power is still retained.