Reports & Jacob Rees-mogg:
In recent weeks likeminded colleagues have suggested that I adopt a more conciliatory position as regards the Government’s Brexit negotiations. If we were to do so it would completely undermine the heart of why we voted to leave, rendering our almost-reclaimed sovereignty a myth.
If we do not push on with firmness and tenacity the harm being done to our fishermen will continue, our powers to protect our borders will be compromised and our money will be squandered by needlessly paying the EU’S ransom upfront.
Brexiteers like me have done our best to be agreeable. The chief negotiators for the UK have been reasonable. However, if the EU insists upon being intransigent and tries to make an example of the UK to warn other member states what their fate will be if they dare to challenge its authority, we will reach stalemate. As I have said before, the UK will simply have to leave with no deal because the referendum result must be upheld.
We ought not to take Brussels too seriously about the Irish question. It clearly cannot be at the forefront of the Commission’s mind, which is why Mr Juncker was able to address the European Parliament last week and not mention Brexit even once. The Commission hides behind faux concern for the Irish border undermining the single market.
It is important to be clear about the border, our shared
‘We ought not to take Brussels too seriously about the Irish question’
past and our common future. We will not impose a border. If there is a deal to be done about the border it will be precisely that: a deal. None the less, if one side keeps refusing to bargain, no deal will be struck.
If Brussels or Dublin insist upon rejecting all the practical approaches that we propose, it is, with regret, that we will have to graciously accept their rejection. If they either do not want to or simply cannot broker a deal, a deal will not be done.
Inflammatory, unhelpful rhetoric is being used by some politicians in advance of their elections, such as the Irish foreign minister, Mr Coveney. I wish it were restricted just to slogans. In fact, damaging suggestions have been made. The Irish Government has already proposed splitting the UK by creating a border within it down the middle of the Irish Sea. Either Dublin respects the Belfast Agreement, which committed the parties peacefully to respect that Northern Ireland chooses its own constitutional future, or it does not. The Irish Government needs to understand that if it obliges us to choose between the Republic and the Union, we will choose the Union. Thus any deal which addresses the border to everyone’s satisfaction is a deal which puts the Union first.
The PM has been unambiguous in her unionism, as has the Party and the majority in Parliament unalterably behind her. It would be helpful if everyone could unite to ensure that we secure the best outcome for the whole of the United Kingdom and Ireland, otherwise there will be a high economic price to be paid, primarily by Dublin. ♦jacob Rees-mogg is chairman of the European Research Group