The UK has enjoyed the privileges of the single market. Things are tougher outside it
The blame game is upon us. Since it is hard to believe that Boris Johnson could be so naive as to think that the European Union will reopen the withdrawal agreement or ditch the Irish backstop, it seems likely that he is actively pursuing a no-deal Brexit. But it is obviously in the prime minister’s interest to be seen as the innocent party, especially in the context of a general election that now seems highly likely.
And so, in his recent letter to Donald Tusk, Johnson wrote: “This government will not put in place infrastructure, checks or controls at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.” Few outside the UK take such a claim seriously. If the UK were to follow such a course of action, it would be in breach not only of its World Trade Organization obligation to treat all its trade partners equally but of sundry other international obligations and agreements. The British government’s own Yellowhammer report, which was leaked last week, concluded that attempts to avoid a hard border in Ireland would be “unsustainable”.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2MBNqHY
via
0 Comments