A thread on the latest Brexit shit show (sorry):
1) Important to understand EU27 position: the request is for UK to guarantee that *absent other solutions* there will be no hard border in Northern Ireland *under all circumstances*
1) Important to understand EU27 position: the request is for UK to guarantee that *absent other solutions* there will be no hard border in Northern Ireland *under all circumstances*
2) The demand is due to May’s redlines - the UK is leaving the single market & customs union - and this seems irreconcilable with avoiding a hard border
3) The UK has been aware of this since those redlines were set – and nobody has come up with a workable solution that doesn’t involve magical thinking, empty rhetoric, tweeting sonnets or science fiction
4) Important to understand at this point that UK and Ireland being in the single market & customs union (and out of Schengen) is instrumental to there not being a hard border today thejournal.ie/cross-border-c…
5) It's equally important to understand there aren't just "some" sectors affected by Brexit, or "agriculture, energy *etc.*" but up to 140 areas of north-south cooperation newstatesman.com/politics/stagg…
6) UK could choose to ditch its redlines or commit whole UK to continuing full regulatory alignment in the affected areas, but doing so would affect UK's scope for manoeuvre in future (eg trade deals, setting rules, standards)
7) Alternatively, if and when the UK diverges in those relevant areas, were no other feasible solutions found, or in a no deal scenario, the UK would have to guarantee that Northern Ireland continues to fully align in those areas if a hard border is to be avoided.
8) You can argue over semantics and sequencing all day, but the substance of the issue is clear.
