Where to start with this drivel? The current iteration of the Protocol is worse, not mildly better, than the one negotiated by @theresa_may in terms of barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1/ 
Behind-the-border checks do not make a frontier intangible. They would be a retrograde step that would be opposed by Nationalists (and indeed moderate Unionists) 2/
The EU's concern about the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland predated the 2017 election - see for example para 11 of the negotiating guidelines the European Council adopted on 29 March 2017 3/
No-one who calls themselves a conservative should advocate ripping up a treaty we signed up to less than 2 months ago 4/
The introduction of checks when goods move between Ireland and Northern Ireland is bound to increase support for a border poll. No-one who calls themselves a Unionist should advocate that 5/
In the interests of balance, he does get a few things right. Unilaterally scrapping the Protocol would be calamitous for our relations with the Biden administration 6/
The Protocol *is* causing real problems. Some of us spent years warning hardcore Brexiteers that they would not get an FTA without a separate arrangement for NI and the more distant the GB/EU relationship the more painful it would be to GB/NI trade. They didn't listen 7/
The only sensible way forward is for the UK and the EU to work together in the Joint Committee to try to resolve the problems. The prospects of doing that are not enhanced by suggestions we can't be trusted to stick to anything we agree 8/
And finally the EU made a terrible mistake when it considered invoking Article 16. It undermined its moral authority on this issue - and it gave an opening for the likes of Dan Hannan to pursue an even harder Brexit than they have already achieved 9/
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
