Thread by @mattuthompson

So fed up of the Good Friday Agreement being completely misunderstood and used as a political football by both sides.

Take it from somebody who keeps a copy of the thing in his living room.

It has precisely nothing to say about a hard border. Zip. Nada.

(THREAD)

The only mention of border infrastructure is in a passage on removing Troubles-era “security installations”.

It has nothing else to say. So the argument becomes one not about the letter of the agreement, but the “spirit”

So what on earth is the “spirit” of the agreement?

Well. It is primarily about consensus. And also about creating a space in which Irish people in NI are able to feel connected to Ireland, and British people to the UK.

Thus, so the argument goes, erecting barriers on the island North and South would risk that fragile consensus.

But. By that same logic, erecting borders between GB and NI would also breach the agreement. This seems to be the UK’s argument now.

Except that, as many Unionists pointed out at the time, the very signing of the Withdrawal Agreement constituted that breach. And we still signed.

And then on the other side, even the Irish Govt was unable to explain this morning on the radio why the UK’s action now breached the GFA.

Muttering something about consensus. But the WA explicitly did not have the consent of Unionists. And it didn’t seem to matter then.

So really we are not arguing about the GFA at all.

We are arguing about a straightforward matter of international law.

The U.K. made commitments, and it is now rowing back on them. That is the start and the end of the matter.

And the end of this thread.