I met pleased and gloomy people in the first half of last year when I travelled around the UK writing about the potential impact of Brexit. But by far the happiest of those I interviewed were veteran Irish republicans in Belfast, mostly present or past members of Sinn Fein, who had devoted their lives to opposing British rule.
They grasped that Brexit had made the question of the Irish border a live political issue by turning it into an international frontier. This was no longer just a 310 mile-long dividing line between the UK and the Irish Republic but the border between the UK and the EU.
Irish nationalists had been trying to interest the rest of the world in the partition of Ireland since it happened in 1921 but had failed dismally. Now the British government was self-destructively doing their work for them, significantly eroding the status of Northern Ireland as part of the UK.
Unionist fears that they would be sold out have been amply fulfilled, an outcome confirmed by the EU-UK government deal on the Irish Sea border, which is complicated and confusing – perhaps deliberately so – but means in practice that there will be trade barriers between Northern Ireland and Britain, though not between the Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Unionist papers now refer to an “Irish Sea border” as a done deal. At the same time, Boris Johnson dropped the much-criticised clauses in the Internal Market Bill that would have enabled his government to renege on the sea border.
Former leaders of the Brexiteers, propelled into power by claiming to be “taking back control”, are coy about what they have done, but the British state is ceding a large measure of authority over part of the UK. Northern Ireland will in future abide by EU customs regulations and “single market” rules and the rest of the UK will not. Unsurprisingly, the pro-Brexit British media that has been booming defiance towards Brussels in the past few days and telling Johnson to stand firm is largely mute about this diminution in the real power of the British government.
The unionists in Northern Ireland are not so shy in expressing their sense of betrayal. “The prime minister will always do what is right for him personally, then for his party, then for England,” says a bitter editorial in the unionist News Letter quoted by The Irish Times. “He showed pure cynicism when he came to Northern Ireland to denounce Theresa May’s border backstop … Within months he had the premiership he had spent a lifetime coveting, and within weeks of achieving that goal he was cutting the province adrift.”
Author: Patrick Cockburn is the author of War in the Age of Trump (Verso).
This is a repost of an article published by Counter Punch on December 15, 2020.
Tells the facts, names the names. CounterPunch is an independent US based politics magazine and online publication.
www.counterpunch.org/
Comments
7 responses to “Brexit bluster exposes the waning of English power”
Thanks for this up-date on the prospective realities for Northern Ireland.
It seems to me that one significant development will occur next year, when there will be a realisation that the EU subsidies have stopped. Their past benefits were apparent in just one area: Belfast and the “Titanic Experience” drawing in tourists experiencing one aspect of Belfast’s industrial past (Declaration: I’ve seen it).
So one potential political solution (admittedly from a far-off Australian perspective) could be for Ireland to become a federation. One state (in the Australian and USA sense) could be “Northern Ireland” within its current borders, with Stormont as its “state” parliament and the current Government continuing to govern NI. Preserving the identity of “Northern Ireland”, even if so many in the North are obtaining Republic of Ireland passports.
Then what is the Republic become the other “state. With the significant difference that Dublin is the centre of government for both states. Thus (re)obtaining access to the EU for NI and its people.
Remember the scandals with the Catholic Church in the Republic, the legalising of same-sex marriage, the former Taoiseach Varadkar (with a very non-Celtic name) being openly married to his partner, and the removal of the special place of the Catholic Church in the Republic’s Constitution. Ireland has changed for the better.
And so has over 20 years of peace on the North. I first visited Belfast in 1969, shortly after the British Army had entered it. So much has changed in 50 years – for the better.
Note too the significance of 2022, as 100 years after these independence declarations:
“The War of Independence ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed on 6 December 1921 and narrowly approved by Dáil Éireann on 7 January 1922. A Provisional Government was set up under the terms of the treaty, but the Irish Republic nominally remained in existence until 6 December 1922, when 26 of the island’s 32 counties became a self-governing British dominion called the Irish Free State.”.
So much to hope for.
Better still, why don’t the NI parties sit together with Ireland and discuss the possibility of completely ceding from the UK and joining Ireland.
One would hope that there are enough adults on both sides to have a proper consultation without the old enmity and hatred raising their ugly heads again.
Time have moved and so should Northern Island.
Thanks for reading. One reason I suggested “Northern Ireland” become a state of the Republic is that identity (“Northern Irish”) is very strong for Protestants and just removing the international border (NI/UK – Republic) would a step too far.
And yes – your suggestion is an excellent one. But I think it requires a year or two of EU deprivation first. hence a possible focus date of 6 December 2022.
If identity is the only issue, you could try the Hong Kong 1 Country 2 Systems solution (that was working superbly until the attempt at colour revolution by the CIA…). One Federated Ireland, with a separate Northern Irish entity!
Federal solution is a good temporary idea.
The Federation to end in 2122…. so that unification is inevitable and education in EU realities can work its magic in the interim?
The City of London still takes taxes from Ireland, as the unknown bondholders who stuffed the goose of the Irish Banks 13 years ago. They used T Geithner to do this.
Brexit may be exactly what is intended. It may be difficult to reverse, but the FX opportunities are colossal.
Why not Federate England?
Thanks for reading. I did mean that a federated Ireland consisting of two states would be the means of achieving unity, permanently. Just removing the current border would – I strongly suggest – still not currently be acceptable to a large minority in the North.
So the permanent state of “Northern Ireland” within the federated Republic would help preserve one form of self-identity.
Self identity can change. Most colonisers in Australia now identify as Australian. Perhaps not members of the Caliphate, but our secular charms may work in time.
The Plantation of malcontents by the English was successful for a while. So it will take a while to correct? If NI residents want to identify as British they can make plans. Given the hamfisted governenace of Ireland since partition, they might be better off.Check out the Irish banks! Government never even sent in investigators to track money laundering, for fear of what they would find.
There is no reason to scupper the idea of a Fed Ire by insisting on permanency. Make it temporary, 100 years is plenty of time.
The one permanent thing in this universe is change.