The PM has just said that under the Brexit deal being negotiated, the "whole of the UK" - ie including Northern Ireland - would be able "to take full advantage of Brexit". Which means that NI would remain in the UK's customs territory AND not in the EU's customs union. But...
absolutely no one in Dublin, Brussels or London is denying that there would be a de facto customs border between GB and the whole island of Ireland in the Irish Sea. So Northern Ireland would be inside the EU's customs union as a matter of practice but not of law. Just...
thinking about both the practical and philosophical issues this would raise is giving me a headache. So I am going to stop now.
