Indecision over the Irish border could endanger both Conservatives and the DUP
Time to come clean: Are Theresa May and Arlene Foster endangering their MPs?
This Critique Archives piece makes a good point – perhaps not strongly enough.
Have Conservative – and DUP – MPs been made aware of the possibilities, if they fail to find a way to keep the border open between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK?
If not, then Mrs May and Ms Foster need to come clean. The details are in the final paragraph, below.
I wonder if Iain Duncan Smith would be so keen to defend his government’s indecision if he knew the possible consequences?
The DUP, the most hardline, right-wing, Unionist political party, is propping up the very Government that could be about to allow Northern Ireland, effectively, to be joined-at-the-hip once more to Dublin.
It is brought into focus by … publication by the European Union of a default fallback plan, to take effect should negotiations for a trade deal for the UK break down once and for all. The plan suggests that when Great Britain withdraws from the EU completely, Northern Ireland would be the sole part of the UK to remain in the Customs Union.
Were this plan to be put into effect … it would effectively mean Northern Ireland is reunited with the Republic in all-but-name, and becomes divided off from the United Kingdom, again in all-but-name. This would be because, while there would be no active border between the two Irelands, a boundary would have to be enforced at the coastline. That would mean that there would be a border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
An inland border would revive Nationalist resentments, potentially even seeing a resurgence of the militancy of the 1970s-to-the-1990s. But a sea border instead would generate resentment on the other side of Northern Irish society; former Loyalist paramilitaries will be watching the next few months with deep feelings of suspicion, resentment, anger, and, should Barnier’s proposal be adopted, ultimately betrayal. And when militants feel betrayed, violence usually follows. They may attack DUP members who have ‘let them down’. Or they might look further, and feel that it is the Tories who have abandoned them and deserve ‘comeuppance’. Not a happy prospect, but a realistic one.
Source: The folly of the DUP | TheCritique Archives
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
These right-wing nasties don’t appear to care what tragedies they visit upon the people of Britain and Ireland.
I fear that frustrated Ulster Loyalists will simply revert to previous behaviour should they feel “betrayed” by sensible Brexit agreements.
They will just start killing Catholics. They won’t attack DUP politicians as those politicians will portray themselves as the voice of the “betrayed” just as UKIP is hoping to do in Britain.
Nor will Loyalist murder gangs head to Britain to kill English officials or politicians. They are too servile to do that. Instead, the victims will be , as before, Catholic civilians going about their daily lives who just happen to be convenient targets. We should not forget that, when the grisly business of adding up the number of victims was finally completed, it was found that the Loyalists had deliberately murdered far more innocent civilians than the IRA.
There is no indecision just another cynical attempt at a power grab by Brussels printing something that has not been accepted by Britain or agreed by the eu itself, under their own terms nothing is agreed till everything is agreed.
It’s always so easy to blame Brussels isn’t it, Barry? Any time anything goes wrong, just blame it on EU intransigence, because any attempt on their part to deny it will hardly be heard in the UK at all.
Sadly for the jingoists, their accusations can still be shown up for the nonsense they are, In this case, if there is ‘no indecision’, how come the British Government still hasn’t laid out a clear policy for settling the Irish border issue? The plan Barnier has formulated is a ‘default’ position that will be worked for if no deal can be reached in time. It is not a power-grab by Brussels, it’s the position the Dublin Government wants the EU to take on Eire’s behalf. And it’s a perfectly responsible position to adopt, because if the current logjam continues without any fallback plan on the table, there will be a hard border between the two Irelands in 13 months’ time, and that will put the Good Friday Agreement in jeopardy.
There is no Conservative / DUP indecision over the Irish border; it stays open. If it is to be closed, then it will be down to the EU as the south also don’t want a closed border
No – it will be down to the UK. The EU didn’t vote for the UK to leave.