Opinion

Brexit supporters in denial over growing farce

The Brexit project has always been surrounded by considerable amounts of farce, as demonstrated again by the decision of one of its main support groups, Leave.EU, to move its registered office from England to Co Waterford.

Leave.EU, bankrolled by the controversial figure Aaron Banks, discovered that it could not retain its present internet address and overall title in the aftermath of Brexit unless it relocated to an area which was still within the European Union.

With no apparent sense of irony, the organisation immediately acquired a base in Ireland where the south is a committed EU member and the north sharply illustrates all the contradictions and upheavals associated with Brexit.

It is likely that Leave.EU will simply try to brazen out the glaring lack of credibility over its position and all the indications are that the DUP, as marginally the largest party in the Stormont Assembly, is moving into very similar territory.

The DUP's agriculture minister Edwin Poots has responded to the huge embarrassment of taking responsibility for the arrangements surrounding the effective introduction of a new border in the Irish Sea by blaming his political opponents for his predicament.

Mr Poots, as one of Brexit's most committed backers, openly acknowledged on Friday that we were facing rising costs which would seriously hinder food distribution and result in significant job losses.

He condemned the new rules known as the Northern Ireland Protocol which inevitably followed when the region needed to continue applying EU customs rules in order to prevent the catastrophic introduction of a hard border.

It is reasonably clear that his party set out to ingratiate itself with Boris Johnson and other right wing Tories during the 2016 EU referendum by facilitating some dubious developments, such as the notorious Metro newspaper advertisement on the eve of polling, while never really believing that the leave campaign could get over the line.

The DUP is now older and wiser about the way in which it was cynically and permanently dropped by Mr Johnson as soon as he gained an overall majority at Westminster.

As Brexit becomes a reality, and the final break-up of the UK increasingly looms into view, many of Brexit's advocates are ruefully coming to terms with the full consequences. Others, like Leave.EU and Mr Poots, remain in a state of denial.