UK cannot sacrifice peace in Brexit deal

THEY say if you are skating on thin ice you may as well dance, and that appears to be precisely what senior members of the British government are doing on Brexit. In December, Boris Johnson was adamant that a hard Border would be a disaster; now it is a red herring, and the Irish and the EU are guilty of scaremongering, according to Tory grandees.

With so much frostiness in the air, British Prime Minister Theresa May wasted no time to cold-shoulder the EU legal draft that would protect the status quo and obviate the necessity for borders.

The EU text, which proposes a “common regulatory area” between the EU and Northern Ireland, would “threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK”, according to Mrs May.

“No UK prime minister could ever agree to it,” she told the Commons.

You cannot avoid borders or trade barriers if you exit the single market and customs union.

The EU plan is a backstop, not a solution.

Its purpose is to protect vital national interests and support the move to phase two. Thus, a failure to fulfil commitments by the UK would threaten the constitutional integrity of the Good Friday Agreement.

It is also absurd to accuse the EU of subterfuge in using the Border in an agenda to stop Brexit. Britain’s lack of consideration for the impact of Brexit on this island is hardly the fault of Dublin or Brussels.

The price of anything must be balanced against the sacrifices made to attain it, thus the Good Friday Agreement is invaluable as it has maintained peace in these islands for two decades. It is not a rattle to be tossed out of the pram by frustrated politicians whose ambitions are being thwarted.