Boris Johnson wholly to blame for disaster of an Irish Sea border

This is of course a welcome development. But it is needed due to the recklessness of Boris Johnson.

Mr Johnson, when he was on manoeuvres against Theresa May, came to Northern Ireland in late 2018 and denounced Theresa May’s Brexit deal for creating a border in the Irish Sea. During that speech to the DUP, he specified the unacceptable nature of tariffs and regulatory checks for goods within the UK. Then, months later, he voted for Mrs May’s deal at the third attempt.

As if that betrayal of his own rhetoric was not bad enough, then, after the failure of that deal to pass the House of Commons, Mr Johnson again began to talk as if he would stand by Northern Ireland unionists when he wanted the Tory leadership. He came to the Province during the party hustings and emphasised his support for the Union at the Tory conference.

Then, before that event had even ended, his first offer to the EU of a full regulatory border in the Irish Sea was unveiled. When that was rejected, Mr Johnson betrayed the DUP fully by also agreeing with Leo Varadkar to Irish Sea tariffs, at a meeting in Cheshire – thus a full internal UK trade border (despite NI staying nominally within UK customs).

While some details of that agreement, which formed the basis of the Brexit deal, have yet to be thrashed out, a full trade border is the thrust of what Mr Johnson conceded. It is the disaster that he created to further his own ambition.

Incredibly, the prime minister has been the subject of little criticism from unionists for his grievous betrayal, which will lead to a decisive move towards all island trade structures. This is perhaps because the matter is complicated.

So while any attempt to mitigate the damage of the prime minister’s betrayal, in order to secure his re-election (by saying he had a Brexit deal), is welcome it will be hard to get the EU to retreat from its legal expectations and the blame for this disaster is wholly his.