A set of relationships have been damaged... perhaps irretrievably

Leaving the European Union has become considerably more complex than we were led to believe. It is not a case of picking up a suitcase and leaving as Britain did in India and Kenya. Leaving the EU involves unpicking hundreds of laws and regulations; it’s more like picking apart of piece of woven cloth than dismantling Lego. Nor were we told that there would be a £39bn divorce settlement.

The United Kingdom Government has been involved in complex negotiations with 27 member states all of whom have a legitimate interest in the outcome. No one gets all they want in a negotiation and so it has come to pass. Maybe we should have left well enough alone even though it was less than perfect.

Important relationships have been damaged.

Brexit has led to the serious deterioration of a whole set of important relationships; between Dublin and London; between the DUP and Dublin; between London and Brussels; within the UK political system and between the different parts of the Northern Ireland community. Following the publication of the Withdrawal Agreement last evening, even the relationship between Scotland and Northern Ireland is fraught with new difficulties.

In a few weeks time we may find that the remaining members of the European Union sign off on an agreement with the United Kingdom which the United Kingdom parliament will reject. To crash out without an agreement would result in chaos.

Brexit caused a problem about borders within Ireland and between Northern Ireland and Great Britain which has become a crisis.

The thorny issue of the Irish border has proved a real sticking point

Before Brexit, the backstop dilemma did not exist. The Brexiteers who helped to create the problem are now in the middle of it.

There are few matters as important as the quality of relationships among the people of this island. The improvements should be treasured. We prosper best when we live at peace with one another.

We are enjoined by Christ to love our neighbours. Brexit has the potential to do serious damage to the Irish economy, given that a substantial amount of its commerce goes to or through the United Kingdom. If we in Northern Ireland had concern for the well being of all the people of this island, we should have considered that when deciding how to vote. Unionists should look north/south as well as east/west.

The common membership of the European Union provided Ireland and the United Kingdom with a secure political umbrella under which the three strands of the Good Friday Agreement could operate; internal in Northern Ireland,

north/south and east/west. It secured the long-term integrity of the United Kingdom.

The backstop guaranteeing an open border in Ireland, keeping Northern Ireland looking two ways at the same time and potentially creating a border in the Irish Sea has become a problem, the solution to which, negotiated by a Conservative Government, may cause the deal to be rejected in the House of Commons.

Maybe it will be amended by Parliament and re-negotiated. No one can predict how things will develop in the next days and weeks.

I might decide in principle to sell my house. I would not sign to sell until I saw and examined the offer. Given what is on offer it would be well to be given a choice to stay where we are in the EU, accept the Withdrawal Agreement or crash out to political and economic chaos.

Rev John Dunlop is a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church