Wednesday 6 December 2017

We need a UK wide open boarder, but then why bother with Brexit?

As usual John Dixon over at Borthlas, puts it far clearer than I can in what the current row over whether there should be a hard or open boarder  between Northern Ireland and and the Republic in the South,

As John states,

The solution proposed by May, guaranteeing no regulatory divergence between the North and the Republic, is a neat solution to the specific, but it does nothing to resolve the generic.  It merely shifts the issue from a line drawn across an island to a line drawn in the sea – it is the Brexiteers’ desire to opt out of the EU regulatory regime which causes the problem, not the Irish Government.  The only thing surprising about the opposition of the DUP to anything which effectively puts the North outside the UK regulatory regime – which is the apparently inevitable consequence of what the proposed agreement said – is that it did, indeed, seem to come as a surprise to May.
The call from Scotland, Wales and London to be given the same deal as Northern Ireland makes eminent sense politically.  As Nicola Sturgeon put it,

If one part of UK can retain regulatory alignment with EU and effectively stay in the single market (which is the right solution for Northern Ireland) there is surely no good practical reason why others can’t.”
 John continues
Whilst I wholly agree with the sentiment, I don’t agree with the bit about there being ‘no good practical reason’.  For the reasons referred to above, putting Wales or Scotland in a different regulatory regime from that operating in England requires borders between those countries; and doing the same for London requires a border around that city.  Theresa May – or any other UK Prime Minister – is not going to ‘solve’ the problem of the Irish border by creating three new borders within the island of Great Britain.
Left Foot Forward also recognise that the UK government  may have only one way out
 

... the DUP can’t have it both ways. If the UK as a whole leaves the Single Market and Customs Union (keeping NI and rUK ‘united’ on the trade policy front), there would need to be a ‘hard border’ on the island, to track goods, impose tariffs, and to check they met the differing regulatory standards. The DUP is firmly opposed to a hard border.
So the only way to get around this – to avoid a hard border and avoid ‘[separating] NI from the rest of UK’ is to ensure Ireland and the UK have the same trade and regulatory standards.
The solution? The UK stays in the Single Market and the Customs Union. Or, in other words, EU membership ‘in all but name’, according to leading Brexiteers…like, funnily enough, the pro-Brexit DUP.

A lot of course  depends on the the parliamentary arithmetic.

Would the DUP accept Single Market and Customs Union for the whole of the UK and just how many on the Tory benches are last ditch brexiters?

The Lib Dems Plaid and the SNP, would assumedly back a UK wide  single Market and Customs Union  so it may al depend on Jeremy Corbyn and Labour.

Corbyn is of course Pro-Brexit and has done virtually nothing  to back a Soft Brexit and has allowed the Hard Brexit Tories (Who may only number about 50 ) to dictate the wholeof Mrs May's hand in the negotiations.

There may be some Plaid and SNP supporters  who actually back Brexit and others who believe  that it would lead to the UK crash and burn and take us on the road to independence.

There will be Labour supporters who also believe that Brexit   may well bring the Tory government  down , but  is it not time that we had a clear indication from that Party's leadership what they would do differently.

Would a change of government  with a Labour majority really change the
omnishambles that is now emerging.
.
I voted leave and reluctantly accept the vote , but I don't want to see Cymru becoming even more Poor West Britons .

An open boarder between the Irish Republic and the North would see boarder controls shifted to Welsh ports to disastrous effects, but so would a hard boarder.

For Wales, Scotland, and even London to call for  a similar arrangement that was proposed for Northern  Ireland may make political capitol, but clearly the real solution is to keep open boarders with the rest of Europe.

But that leads us to ask the question why bother with Brexit at all?

It's one we need both Mrs May and Jeremy Corbyn to answer.

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