Northern Ireland

ANALYSIS: Once again Theresa May fails to get down to the nitty gritty

British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her latest speech on Brexit at the Mansion House in London. Picture by Leon Neal/PA Wire
British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her latest speech on Brexit at the Mansion House in London. Picture by Leon Neal/PA Wire British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her latest speech on Brexit at the Mansion House in London. Picture by Leon Neal/PA Wire

YESTERDAY was Theresa May's third landmark speech outlining her government's direction of travel for Brexit.

And in common with its two predecessors, it was heavy on aspiration but sparse on detail.

At this rate, the British government's vision of how Brexit will play out should finally become clear some time around 2035.

In reality, we have little over a year before any "implementation period" will begin and the inexorable slide towards a full Brexit is underway.

The British prime minister is an unenviable position. She is embarking on a project in which she has never fully believed, at a time when her cabinet is divided and her slim Westminster majority is reliant on the DUP.

Every sentence in her speech is cleverly crafted to appease the fears of one sectional interest while not unnerving another.

While this short-term approach works politically, it fails to address practical considerations.

One of the few occasions when Mrs May got close to the nitty-gritty was in addressing the future need for a degree of regulatory alignment with the EU, highlighting how the starting point was that Brussels and the UK were currently on the same page.

However, she also reiterated Britain's intention to leave the single market and the customs union – again dashing hopes of a soft Brexit.

Meanwhile, the prime minister appeared to soften her position on the role of the European Court of Justice, acknowledging that some of its judgments will impact on UK regulations after leaving the EU.

Yet the elephant in the room that is the Irish border was still only dealt with at a rhetorical level, suggesting an agreed solution remains some way off.

Within an hour of Mrs May concluding her address, DUP leader Arlene Foster was welcoming the prime minister's remarks and especially the commitment not to "countenance any new border being created in the Irish Sea".

Somewhat conspicuously, Mrs Foster neglected to mention the existing border – the main preoccupation of politicians north and south for the past 18 months and more.

In its response, the Irish government voiced the hope that its British counterparts would table "developed proposals" in the coming weeks – arguably a diplomatic way of saying what Mrs May outlined yesterday was half-baked.

Dublin welcomed the UK government's commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and to avoiding a hard border but yet again they want to see these abstract notions "translated into concrete proposals".

With just over a year left until the UK begins to break ties with Brussels and a shorter time still until withdrawal negotiations conclude, the UK's vision of Brexit remains muddled and uncertain.

The already modest confidence of many Irish people in Mrs May will be increasingly damaged the longer this situation prevails but under the current circumstances the process looks set to only inch forward.