Border fiasco is uniting us all, not driving us apart

Britain’s scaremongering is not working as...

Backstop, stockpiling and solidarity are the buzzwords this week as the Brexit project finally hits the fan. When it comes to the prospect of a hard border and its horrific implications, it seems that the House of Commons is populated by a combination of ostriches and kamikaze pilots.

A lot of British MPs seem to enjoy playing this game of ‘chicken’ with their arch enemies in the EU. Former Brexit secretary David Davies, who negotiated the withdrawal agreement and then resigned, was beaming this week with his assertion that Brussels will cave in at the last minute.

British legislators seem to be totally unaware that after March 29 if there is no deal every single one of the 3.2million trucks that cross the English Channel each year could be subject to over 60 different checks to comply with EU rules and regulations. The EU entry point ‘ is obliged’ to enforce EU regulations – this applies as much to Dundalk as it does to Dover.

British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt gave an interview on BBC radio last Thursday, in which he said that Brexit might have to be delayed. He also raised the spectre that the vast majority of medicines that go to Ireland come through the UK.

Interestingly, in an opinion poll carried out by Amárach for the Claire Byrne Show last Monday, 84% of respondents said they had no intention of stockpiling medicines or food in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

In other words the scaremongering is not working.

Contrast that to the reports in the UK media, and it appears it is British people who are starting to stockpile. This week the British Retail Consortium – comprising most of the major supermarket groups and food retailers – warned that more than 80% of fresh fruit in the UK comes from EU countries!

Many are talking in Britain about facing the biggest crisis since the Second World War. Unfortunately, some regard this as a badge of honour.

But if scaremongering and stockpiling are the order of the day in the UK, solidarity seems to be the buzzword here in Ireland.

I have been struck this week by the amount of support there is for the Government playing hardball on the hard border.

Another poll this week revealed that, while 54% would support a United Ireland, this jumps to 86% when the alternative is a hard border.

In truth, the prospect of a hard border is bringing the people on this island closer. Having visited Northern Ireland frequently in the last six months, the antipathy to Brexit is growing from the 56% who voted to remain in 2016.

The border in Ireland was strengthened by the Second World War, when the Republic was neutral while Northern Ireland had a significant role in the Allies’ battle against Hitler.

But Brexit is having the opposite effect. Solidarity has never been stronger here – on the whole island. Indeed the aftermath of World War Two drove the two parts of this island further apart.

Brexit has proven to have had many unintentional consequences, one of them is to bring people on this island closer together. And that is a good thing.

WRITE TO JOE AT: The Irish Mail on Sunday, Embassy House, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4