Opinion – Martin Wolf: Boris Johnson should embrace the brexit he made

In his 2019 election campaign, Boris Johnson promised the UK that he would “get Brexit done”. He failed. Once again, he is planning a law that would allow him to repudiate parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit deal he used in his campaign. That would destroy Britain’s reputation for keeping its word, invite a parallel EU repudiation of its free trade agreement with the UK, infuriate the Biden government and divide the West.

At the time of the referendum campaign in 2016, the then Irish Foreign Minister stressed to me that the EU is a “peace project”. This was the case for France and Germany. Also valid for Ireland and the United Kingdom. The fact that the Republic and the UK are members of the EU has made borders almost irrelevant. This facilitated the peace process and perhaps even made it possible.

“If you break it, you own it,” the late Colin Powell told George W. Bush before the invasion of Iraq. That possibility did not seem to cross the minds of Brexit advocates. The deal would cut EU ties between the two countries, which facilitated the Good Friday Agreement. The campaign to leave the EU ignored this problem. Those in favor of permanence also did. But they had the excuse that they weren’t out to ruin the relationship.

To their credit, Tony Blair and John Major, joint progenitors of the Good Friday Agreement, warned of the consequences of Brexit on a visit to Londonderry in June 2016. Blair argued that the only alternative to land border controls “would have to be checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, which would also be clearly unacceptable”. Major warned that it would be “a historic mistake” to do anything that could destabilize the Good Friday Agreement. Both were correct. Unfortunately, they were ignored.

After the referendum, pro-Brexitists insisted that their narrow victory forced them to choose the hardest Brexit possible, no matter what the price. They rejected the single market. They also repudiated Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement, which would have kept the United Kingdom in the customs union. Just last week, May reminded the House that “I presented an agreement… that met the requirements of the Good Friday Agreement and did not allow us to have a border on the Irish Sea or between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Unfortunately, the Democratic Unionist Party and others across the House chose to reject it.” Among these “others” was the ambitious Johnson.

Once in power, Johnson made his deal to “get Brexit done”, which he now wants to change unilaterally. Then he said that “Northern Ireland has a lot. You maintain free movement and access to the single market, but you also have unrestricted access to Great Britain.” But he was determined to wrest access to that single market from the rest of the UK. He also insisted that his “great deal” would not mean border controls on the Irish Sea, although it obviously would. What he should also know is that the greater the divergence between the UK and the EU – over phytosanitary regulations, for example – the more burdensome these border checks would be. Is he incapable of admitting these self-evident realities even to himself?

In a recent speech justifying the unilateral repudiation, Lord Frost, Johnson’s negotiator, argued that “the detail of the protocol provisions were essentially imposed under duress because we did not have the option of ‘walking away’.” In fact, we did. But it would have been very expensive to implement. In these negotiations, the EU was (and is) in a stronger position, because it matters far more to the UK than it does to them. That’s power, that’s what matters in international relations. Who knew? Frost not, it seems.

Ironically, our government, which treated the votes of 16.1 million supporters of EU membership with contempt when it chose almost the harshest and most damaging version of Brexit possible, wants to give less than 350,000 Unionist voters in Northern Ireland and the a much smaller number of potential troublemakers the power to break the EU’s withdrawal agreement, even if it hurts the rest of the country’s prospects. “It’s time,” says Frost, “to put our own interests first.”

In fact, we should. The interest of the British people lies in the best and most stable relations possible with the European Union, our biggest trading partner and closest neighbour. And not risk a deeper decline in UK trade in response to threats of violence from a small minority of Britons.

The UK government should cooperatively engage in efforts to smoother trade with Northern Ireland. But the EU must also get involved, recognizing that Brexit has helped it make much faster progress than it would have if the UK remained a member. Gratitude for removing this obstacle should encourage you to be conciliatory. But the decision ultimately rests with the UK. Europeans are eternal neighbors, share values ​​and have common enemies. The UK has to keep its promises. This depressing version of Groundhog Day must end now.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves