Peace in Ireland must prevail

THE Good Friday Agreement has just turned twenty. To mark the occasion, I met with the EU’s Chief Brexit Negotiator to discuss the achievement, its impacts and the need to protect it post-Brexit.

Michel Barnier reiterated that the UK must find a solution to the Irish border issue that is acceptable to 27 EU member states by October.

And I, as an MEP with a vote on any final deal, restated my commitment to ensuring the agreement isn’t thrown under the Brexit bus. Ultimately, it is clear that without a solution, there will be no transition or post-Brexit trade deal.

That reality seems to have escaped Labour and the Tories, however, with frontbenchers deciding to celebrate the anniversary of one the most important peace accords in Britain’s recent history by actively undermining it.

In a move as dumbfounding as it is dangerous, both the Brexit Secretary David Davis and Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner used the occasion to dismiss the importance of this vital collective achievement.

In these most uncertain of times, we must take extra care to recognise and safeguard the Good Friday Agreement, we cannot allow Brexit fantasies to tear it asunder. The EU will not accept that and nor should any responsible British politician.

We cannot pin our hopes on Brexit unicorns and magical thinking; now is time for real and actual solutions to the Irish border issue. Peace is too important to be sacrificed on the altar of a shambolic Brexit.

Keith Taylor Green Party MEP for the South East