1/11 Remoaner Traitor Thread Trigger Warning: The UK gov't is being thoroughly dishonest on the Irish border issue in four fundamental ways.
First, this issue hasn't "only now emerged". It was one of the key direct effects of leaving the EU. Entirely predictably so.
First, this issue hasn't "only now emerged". It was one of the key direct effects of leaving the EU. Entirely predictably so.
2/11 Second, refusal to go on to trade negotiations is reasonable. A month after the UK's Art. 50 notification, on 29 April 2017, the Council agreed a phased approach: Progress would have to be made in key areas, one of them being the Irish border, in order to move on to trade.
3/11 On 19 June 2017, the very first day of negotiations, the UK formally agreed to this phased approach (having, incidentally, prepared no counter-proposal). “It’s not how it starts, it’s how it finishes that matters,” declared glibly David Davis. Well, this is how it finishes.
4/11 Third, progress to trade talks is not witheld lightly. The member state whose trade most depends on a good deal with the UK is the RoI. Notion they're holding up trade talks to somehow vex the UK is fanciful. The stakes are as high for the RoI as for the UK; perhaps higher.
5/11 Fourth, Liam Fox's protestations that "we can’t come to a final answer to the Irish question until we get an idea of the end state" are entirely bogus. Nobody is asking the UK to "come to a final answer". What is required -and what the UK agreed to- is progress on the issue.
6/11 What would represent "progress" on the Irish border issue? Very simple. There are only four basic scenarios: 1. UK stays in both SM and CU; 2. UK stays in CU but not SM; 3. UK stays in SM but not CU; 4. UK out of both with a bespoke deal; 5. UK out of both with no deal.
7/11 All the UK would need to do is submit broad proposals on what their plan would be for the Irish border under each of those five scenarios. It's really very, very simple. But there is also a very simple reason the UK gov't hasn't done this:
8/11 The reason is because they know they have no answer for scenarios 3, 4, 5 that keeps their "invisible border" promise, does not threaten to bust their 'Confidence and Supply" deal with the DUP, expose Brexit for the clusterfuck it really is and, probably, cause an election.
9/11 These are the sorts of issues that were blithely waved away by the Leave campaign before the referendum with an "it'll be alright". I had foolishly assumed this was because they were difficult issues for them. It turns out that they had genuinely not given a thought to them.
10/11 In a negotiation where your declared aim is to maximise your global advantage, protect your citizens and strengthen your border, it is entirely reasonable for the other side to do the same. The idea of a border that's airtight one way but permeable the other way is fiction.
11/11 British exceptionalism is not a serious position. Hasn't been for many decades. It's encumbent on the UK to solve problems caused by its leaving. This gov't decided to notify under Art. 50 having done no preparatory work WHATSOEVER. It, alone, is the architect of this mess.
And now off to make dinner for Mama. Ciao belle e belli. x
