The irony of the last five years is that Theresa May’s empty slogan is the one thing that was actually true and which the British government has never managed to accept: Brexit means Brexit
Neither May nor Johnson ever accepted that Brexit came with consequences: specifically, consequences the UK would itself choose as a direct result of its policies, and which it would then have to live with.
The Northern Ireland debate has been stuck in the same unsquarable circle for five years: that if you deliberately erect a regulatory and customs border with another trading entity, it must actually go somewhere.
It really is that simple. Either UK and Ireland would be in the same system, or there’d be a border. That border would either be on the island or in the sea. May chose to keep whole UK in customs union and erect a sea border for regulation. Johnson made that sea border harder.
The UK never had to get into this position. It chose to destabilise the fragile equilibrium in Northern Ireland so it could end the migration rights of eastern Europeans.
May was motivated by xenophobia, Johnson by nationalism. Neither gave a damn about Irish peace.
None of this is new. All of us are tired. But until the UK finally accepts the reality of what it agreed, it will never, ever end.
Here’s my explainer from 2018, if you’re interested theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
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