Our Vince is off to Ireland tomorrow, where he’ll meet leading Irish politicians to discuss Brexit.
Vince will be discussing the implications of the end of the first phase of Brexit negotiations, set to be approved by EU leaders, which failed to find a long-term solution to the Irish border issue.
He said:
The Conservative government has so far botched Brexit, and amongst the people who stand to be most affected are those living on the island of Ireland.
Even after the ‘divorce settlement’ and the agreement to proceed with trade talks, it isstill unclear how a hard border will be averted.
Audiences in Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland are being told different things. Many of the achievements of the Good Friday Agreement have been put at risk as a result.
The unnecessary decision by the Conservatives to leave the Single Market and Customs Union was not mandated by the EU referendum. It is a miscalculation that will harm commerce between our countries.
Those economic ties are much stronger than is generally realised, given the Republic is the fifth biggest customer for UK exports and we are the second biggest market for Irish exports. 6,000 vehicles cross the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland every day.
The confusion and ambiguity around the Irish border issue illustrates the problems ahead of us. There is, however, still time for the Conservatives to commit the UK to the Single Market and Customs Union – a strong government would make sure that continued membership of these economically advantageous arrangements was top of the agenda in Brexit talks. And there is still an opportunity either for a public vote, or for parliament, to stop a damaging Brexit.
That’s why I’m visiting Ireland to meet leading figures in politics and business. I want the Irish people to know that they still have friends in the UK.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Why non-fiction books need their indexes
Changes in status: Local Elections wrap up
What should the Liberal Democrats stand for?
Ben Wood
Ed Sanderson
Jack
Matt (Bristol)
John Grout
6 Comments
Nice win in Godalming last night, builds on the County election last year. Getting back to old times there.
Surely I am not alone in being baffled by the miracle deal done with Theresa May last week. So far the only sensible commentary I’ve read suggests the EU negotiators really feared Mrs May would be deposed by Johnson if she failed to get a deal, and that a fudge was concocted solely for that reason.
What we don’t seem to have heard is precisely how the the border between the North and South in Ireland would work under the agreed deal. If there are to be no customs checks and no border posts, is it expected that lorries will drive back and forth all obeying the different tariff and tax laws on a ‘scouts honour’ basis? If that is the case, why have borders anywhere in the world? Couldn’t we all be asked to behave like adults, and not do anything naughty? It would free up tens of thousands of border police and customs officers to do something more productive. I think the answer to that is that slipping goods through a porous border, and thereby gaining a competitive advantage, would become a highly lucrative practice on both sides of the Irish border with the UK.
As with so much of the Brexit negotiations, we need to be asking for the woolly fudges to be replaced with detail, spelled out clearly in a way we can all understand – “after Brexit, this is exactly will happen at the borders with Ireland”, not “after Brexit something will probably emerge, and it might not be as bad as some people think”.
I think I am right in saying that John Major predicted this Northern Ireland problem during the referendum campaign, a clear example of “project fear” having been “project reality”. One of many irritations we remainers have had to endure is the completely illogical argument that goes “we’ve found a pessimistic prediction that was over-cooked. Therefore all negative predictions were probably wrong. Therefore Brexit will be a good thing for Britain.”
Good to know that Vince is going to Ireland – Dublin, I suppose? – for talks there. As Andy Daer remarks, last week’s ‘fudge’ about the Border will have to be clarified. Only there isn’t any answer, if Eire is in the EU and we are out of it, that I can see. Yes, we insist on the need to remain in the internal market and the customs union, but if the latter, we can’t negotiate free trade deals with the rest of the world, can we? Not of course that we need to, when the prospects of doing so on our own look very dim, but the trade deals negotiated by the EU which we now have the advantage of look so satisfactory.
The recent agreement, which thanks to Davis’ maladroit behaviour, will be strengthened with legal force states:
Brexiters, including the government, claim that they will be able to find a solution. Well, they have claimed much else that has not materialised. What this means is that without the promised Brexit miracle, Northern Ireland, and by extension all of the UK, are committed to stick with the Customs Union and Single Market.
In other words, the Brexiters can keep their fudge and eat it.
This is an important visit by Vince. The Irish border issue is likely to be among the most difficult to square with the government’s stated intention of leaving the single market and customs union; and the focus of the DUP’s continued participation in the supply and confidence agreement with the government.
Will anyone know who he is?