The British government's refusal to maintain an EU office in Belfast after Brexit was always a dubious decision and looks even less sustainable after the latest developments.
It has emerged that, on the basis of an exchange of letters between the British foreign office and the EU, a complete U turn on the issue was performed in the space of the last 14 months.
According to a weekend RTE report, in February, 2019 the UK provided written confirmation of its desire to provide EU offices in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London.
When an EU official wrote back to the Foreign Office in February of this year stressing the need to keep a permanent presence in Belfast in order to facilitate the European Commission's oversight of the implementation of the revised Irish Protocol, it soon became clear that a striking change of attitude had taken place on the British side.
The EU’s request was bluntly rejected in a letter sent last week by Penny Mordaunt, a London minister of state, who claimed that such a presence in Belfast would be "divisive in political and community terms."
Ms Mordaunt’s stance was extraordinary, given that in the 2016 referendum a decisive 56 pc of voters in Northern Ireland wanted to stay in the EU.
The leaders of Alliance, the Green Party, the SDLP and Sinn Féin, jointly representing a majority of Stormont MLAs, have also made it clear that they regard an EU office in Belfast as essential.
However, their intervention drew another dismissive response, this time from cabinet office minister Michael Gove, who declared that the EU did not require a `mini-Embassy’ in the city.
It all represents an escalating and entirely unnecessary diplomatic dispute at a time when coronavirus has already created an international crisis of frightening proportions.
Mr Gove has suggested the EU officials could cross the border to supervise the checks on goods which are central to the Irish protocol previously agreed between Brussels and London.
The idea that the EU’s Northern Ireland representatives might have to be based in Dublin or even Dundalk makes no sense as we move into such a particularly complex and sensitive period.
An EU office in Belfast is a completely reasonable proposal and further attempts by the British government to ignore the views of a majority of MLAs on the issue cannot be justified.
