1. The North/South mapping exercise on the island of Ireland is a sobering reminder of just how much of N/S cooperation relies on at least in part EU law. Anything to do with agriculture, the environment, transport (in part), cross border medicine supply, tourism, research...
2. Energy (Single electricity market, natural gas), broadcasting, chemicals, cross border police cooperation. How all of this will function has to be sorted out without materially harming the cross-border cooperation that does occur. We are familiar with the options by now.
3. One way to do this is the NI-specific backstop more or less along the lines the EU propose. This tries to maintain EU law where cooperation relies on it. That doesn't mean it doesn't have constitutional implications, but it is one way of solving the problem.
4. Another is a soft Brexit in which the whole UK maintains an ongoing part of the acquis. That would then mean that cooperation on the island could remain exactly as now at the price of GB's freedom to diverge.
5. What is obvious from the exercise is that it would make little sense for NI to start diverging on anything to do with environment and agriculture. This would materially affect the work of the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission on the protection of fisheries etc.
6. On the cross-border medicine if different drugs are authorised or refused authorisation that could be a problem. Perhaps in other areas where the Common Travel Area provides a basis, it might be possible to evaluate how necessary the EU legal base is.
7. What should be ultimately taken away from this, however, is that this is not just a customs problem. It's not just something max fac can wish away. There are lots of dimensions of N/S that are at least facilitated by EU law and we either need to maintain that or identify...
8. Where divergence would not materially harm cooperation and would also not lead to breaches in the single market. Also how important is it and how likely is it there would be an interest for NI in doing so if not GB? I suspect you end up pretty close to the NI backstop ends/
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