The end is nigh

As we get ever nearer to Brexit day, the room for manoeuvre and fudging by May and her cabinet gets ever less. What is needed now is legal certainty, for both the UK but for the EU and Ireland, especially in light of the way in which the UK position under May is ever-changing.

For there to be a WA there will have to be legal certainty, that was is agreed will be honoured no matter which party or which person is in charge.

Things is, Brexit, as it stands, will mean either the end of the union between the UK and the EU27 or the union keeping NI connected to the rest of Britain. Last night The Times leaked a 5 page mail from May to the DUP in which it talked about many things, most of which made my head spin; including the phrase “backstop for the backstop”.

But it seems that May is prepared to accept some kind of additional checks in the Irish Sea between NI and Britain, this will be unacceptable to the DUP, and if this is the basis of the WA, then the Dup have already said they would vote against it, thus breaking the supply and support agreement that May relies on to stay in power. Meaning it will be almost impossible to get this deal, if this is what it is, through Westminster.

It is likely that the WA, in regards to the Irish border will be incomprehensible to the layman, meaning that it could be easily misunderstood.

It is worth noting at this point that all comments from the EU this week has been about the lack of movement or progress on the Irish Border, so the fact leaks from Downing Street suggests one is near means they could be talking about an agreement within cabinet, and that agreement has not been shared with the EU. Or has, who knows.