Common sense and a Brexit committee can solve impasse

THROUGHOUT the Brexit and backstop debate, the tactic, now nearly ubiquitous in all debates about anything, is to label those with a different opinion as racist, sexist and/ or ignorant. No true Scotsman would be for Brexit, and they are obviously ignorant says the courtier. If you can acknowledge that the other side may not be evil, and may have a valid argument, then common ground and solutions may be found. This is what I suggest.

During the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy received a conciliatory letter from Khrushchev offering a genuine prospect for peace. This letter was followed by a threatening one from Kremlin hardliners. Kennedy chose to ignore the second letter and proceeded as if only the first letter was sent. Ireland, Northern Ireland, Britain and the EU can do the same thing. The original proposal for a backstop was quite brilliant. All sides, except the DUP, agreed to it. Its objection was genuine. It was afraid of being split from the rest of the UK. Let’s accept the first letter (backstop) and work from there.

Form a Brexit committee of five appointed members. One from the Republic, one from NI, one from mainland Britain, one from the EU and one from Australia/New Zealand. That’s three Commonwealth countries. The EU and Britain both have high standards, that’s why the original Brexit proposal was so good. Give this committee veto power, through majority voting, over any EU laws that affect Northern Ireland. So if the EU does pass laws on goods and services that are significantly at odds with Britain, the committee can veto it. The EU and Ireland should not have a problem with this either, as Britain is unlikely to pass irrational crossborder laws. Is this proposal feasible? William Laine

Newbridge, Co Kildare