Opinion

Newton Emerson: Theresa May's border problem will be convincing right wing press in Britain

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson writes a twice-weekly column for The Irish News and is a regular commentator on current affairs on radio and television.

Prime Minister Theresa May has suggested she wants to stay in the job for the "next few years" to deliver Brexit. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association
Prime Minister Theresa May has suggested she wants to stay in the job for the "next few years" to deliver Brexit. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association Prime Minister Theresa May has suggested she wants to stay in the job for the "next few years" to deliver Brexit. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association

Theresa May has written an article in the Irish News, on the day her government published its Brexit plan, to reassure readers of this newspaper that their citizenship and free movement rights will be unaffected. Rather than checks on the border, immigration will be controlled through work permits. Alas, the next day, UK newspapers splashed with what the Metro’s front page headline called “the Brexit backdoor to Britain”. The Times front page was similar, as was a Daily Mail piece that also topped its hugely popular website. It has always been assumed that maintaining the UK-Ireland Common Travel Area is the easiest Brexit problem to fix because everyone in Ireland wants it, the British government has realistic proposals for it and Brussels has no objection to it. However, everyone has forgotten about the public in Britain - and their newspapers carry even more weight in Downing Street than this one.

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Most of the UK’s Brexit propositions for Ireland concern the movement of goods. There were some worthwhile ideas, especially on existing ‘trusted trader’ schemes for larger firms. The overall technological focus has more merit than cynics will admit. But the proposal that small firms be exempted from customs processes altogether jumps out as delusional. It suggests the British approach to any problem without a trite, ready-made answer is to ignore it. Durham Law School lecturer Dr Alan Greene, who is Irish, described this as: “Sure it’ll be grand Brexit”. The phrase deserves wider use.

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The truly insurmountable Irish problem with Brexit is agriculture - it is a huge chunk of trade across both the Border and the Irish sea, it is subject to tariffs typically 20 times higher than on manufactured goods and the political priority of its sector is not free trade but protectionism. This is why French farmers are insisting all agrifood shipments entering Ireland be inspected. The UK government is proposing adherence to EU standards as a solution but that sounds like more sure it’ll be grand Brexit. The Ulster Farmers' Union and the Irish Farmers’ Association both responded to the UK plan by saying they cannot see how it will work. One glimmer of hope is that agriculture north and south is essentially a nationalised industry. So if a solution is ever found, farmers may just have to do what they are told.

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One organisation welcoming Brexit is the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils and councillors. This might seem surprising - its Northern Ireland branch, NILGA, can come across like a prayer circle of Guardian readers. However, LGA is excited about an end to EU competition rules, which prevent councils favouring firms in their area for contracts. In 2012, Belfast City Council published an ‘investment programme’ based on favouring local suppliers, apparently unaware this is illegal. But soon it may not be, and the dumbest instincts of town hall protectionism will be unleashed.

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Before she was deputy leader of the Women’s Coalition, Jane Morrice was head of the European Commission’s office in Northern Ireland. She is now campaigning for Northern Ireland to remain in the EU in some capacity after Brexit, on the grounds that we are a “European centre of peace-building”. Interviewed on Radio Ulster, Morris simply repeated herself when asked why it is necessary to stay in the EU to remain a European centre of peace-building. The implication that we will otherwise start killing each other is not much of a recommendation.

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Sinn Féin says the PSNI has serious questions to answer after 23-year-old west Belfast man escaped in handcuffs while being arrested for breaching his licence. Another question is how Sinn Féin can fully support the concept of release under licence in this case, yet apparently not even understand it in the case of Derry IRA prisoner Tony Taylor. Last week, along with the spineless SDLP, Sinn Féin denounced Taylor’s return to custody without retrial as “an unjust power” and “an affront to justice and human rights.” The west Belfast man was not retried either - the whole point of release under licence is that it is a privilege to be summarily revoked. Considering how important this is to the Good Friday Agreement, it is a relief to learn that Sinn Féin can still grasp the concept.

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Campaigners for an Irish language act have protested outside Hillsborough Castle and handed over a letter for the secretary of state, who is refusing to engage with them - and rightly so, as language falls under the devolved remit of culture. Sinn Féin senator Niall Ó Donnghaile attended the protest - Gaeilgoiri might have been better protesting to him for the return of Stormont. However, this is the way things are heading. Last week, e-bike retailers pressed the Northern Ireland Office to change a devolved area of law. This week, Northern Ireland’s airports lobbied Westminster directly to scrap domestic air passenger duty. In the absence of an assembly and an executive, pressure is building for little acts of direct rule. It would not take much British relenting on this to make Stormont look totally defunct.

newton@irishnews.com