Customs deal is first step to a united Ireland

FOLLOWING humiliation at the Salzburg summit, it is clear Mrs May will fail the nation in our determination to leave the EU with our dignity and integrity upheld.

Some Cabinet ministers are scurrying around looking for plan B. Mrs May hasn’t got one, so instead they should be looking for a new Prime Minister. Mrs May should resign or be removed.

The border backstop proposal that the Prime Minister alone initiated last December conceded too much and turned Northern Ireland into a hostage to an EU-Irish all-Ireland customs union arrangement under the sole control of Brussels, implemented by Dublin.

It would place Northern Ireland outside the UK during the overall transition period, and both Dublin and Brussels would press for the arrangement to become permanent, resulting in Northern Ireland being summarily annexed from the UK.

The EU is not interested in protecting the rights of unionists. It will persist in supporting the border backstop as the means to aid and abet Leo Varadkar’s power-play to force the border issue and secure EU backing to ensure that the border loses all British authority.

Unionists are not open to a discussion on the border or how they will be governed post-Brexit. Over 349,000 unionists voted with the majority in the UK for Brexit. These loyal people will not be rolled into an illegal, EU-controlled Irish customs union. Nor will they capitulate to anti-British rules and regulations devised in Brussels and enforced upon them by Dublin.

Securing a customs border arrangement from a weak and dithering May is the opening gambit for Irish federalism by Mr Varadkar.

As never since the Belfast Agreement, unionism requires and expects strong and visionary leadership both here and in London, guaranteeing that the Union is safe and ensuring that Varadkar and his EU allies are stopped.

DAVID McNARRY By email