We risk being sucked deep into Brexit swamp

SO NOW we know. Despite the promise of concrete guarantees that we wouldn’t get one, a hard Border appears “unavoidable”, according to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier. It was heralded as the Taoiseach’s finest hour back in December, as we basked in the afterglow of his success in securing assurances from the UK that, even if Brexit talks failed, the fall-back of some kind of alignment would be a bulwark against a return to the rigid checks of the past. But that was then. As the deal is unwound thread by thread in an unseemly Tory squabble, the question is was it all a stitch-up?

Yesterday David Davis, the British Brexit chief, didn’t even turn up in Brussels for talks.

However, it has been pointed out, seeing as how the Conservatives are still “negotiating” – tearing each other’s eyes out over what they want – how can they go to battle with the EU? What is increasingly obvious is that Brexit, whatever it might once have been, has become a swamp sucking all concerned deeper and deeper into the mire. Theresa May and her government have lost all footing. Brexit is now more of an emotional-mindset or ideology than a political strategy.

Were we all sold a pup in phase one of talks then? Mr Barnier’s position is unequivocal. He says the EU would insist Britain signed up to a legally-binding agreement that would keep the North in the single market and customs union, effectively keeping it in the EU, if there was no other way to avoid a hard Border.

But if the British now refuse to see it that way, and if the increasingly heated talks between London and Brussels continue as they are, we are about to be caught in the devastating crosswinds of a disastrous, disorderly Brexit. It is too late for “buyer’s remorse”. Commitments made must be honoured.

Brexit for many Conservatives is about freedom to trade. For the residents of this island it is a lot more serious than that. Should it result in the restoration of a hard Border on this island then it could literally be a matter of life and death. The UN has an unofficial motto that says: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall take flack from both sides.”

Surely on the matter of borders we have taken enough flak.