Opinion

ANALYSIS: Deflective tactics are drowning out the reasoned voices

European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier with the first draft legal text of the EU's withdrawal agreement. Picture by AP Photo/Virginia Mayo
European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier with the first draft legal text of the EU's withdrawal agreement. Picture by AP Photo/Virginia Mayo European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier with the first draft legal text of the EU's withdrawal agreement. Picture by AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

Unionist reaction to the European Commission's draft text of the withdrawal treaty contained more than a hint of pantomime. The DUP's MPs behaved as if Michel Barnier had not only parked his tanks on their lawn but driven an entire division through the front door.

The confidence and supply deal that has the DUP propping up an increasingly lame Tory government, ensured that Theresa May stood four square with her unionist allies. The Conservatives' overriding desire to remain in power leaves the prime minister unable to stand up to the DUP or the hard Brexiteers in her cabinet. The upshot is a muddled and ambiguous approach to EU withdrawal, where the UK appears to take one step forward and two steps back.

The faux surprise and accompanying outrage at the contents of the draft may appease the DUP's supporters but the possibility of "full regulatory alignement" between the two parts of Ireland was spelled out in last December's joint EU-UK report on withdrawal. That report mapped out the political context, while yesterday's draft text translated the pre-Christmas agreement into a legal language. In the words of Tánaiste Simon Coveney, the draft text is "absolutely faithful" to what was agreed in December.

Despite it being flagged up for weeks, the EU's "backstop" position was portrayed as the threat to the union – part of Brussels hatched plan to undermine the UK under the guise of protecting peace in Ireland.

What the British government and the DUP failed to say was that they can help prevent the imposition of a "common regulatory area" scenario and the attendant 'border in the Irish Sea' from coming to pass. It is, after all, one of three potential outcomes being floated and not the preferred option of the Dublin government.

Option one, is that the UK-EU secure a future deal akin to the customs union that ensures the border – and trade across the Irish Sea – remains free-flowing. The second option, of which we have heard very little lately, is for a 'technological' solution that enables goods to be monitored but somehow move across the border unhindered.

However, to date – just over a year until Brexit becomes reality – there has been nothing to suggest the first two options can fly, either due to a lack of desire or a failure of imagination. Short of no deal, the EU is casting yesterday's text as among the worst case scenarios and one that could potentially jeopardise post-Brexit relations with Britain. Read between the lines and you don't see an act of aggression but rather a desire for Britain to help the EU27 sort out this situation to everybody's satisfaction. The British and Irish governments, and the north's biggest parties, are all committed to maintaining a soft border but turning the rhetoric into reality is proving difficult for those who are continually checking over their shoulder.

Unfortunately, yesterday we saw characteristic deflective tactics kick in and the voices of the little Englanders drown out the reasoned.