Editorial: The ever more obvious border in the Irish Sea proves that it is far from gone

A year ago we were told that the Irish Sea border had been scrapped.​

It has, however, become ever more apparent that the internal UK frontier between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is very much still there.​ In fact, it is hardening.

We report today on the latest manifestation of this barrier, which is a constitutional outrage. ​The Royal Armouries – which holds the UK’s national collections of arms and armour and has been based in the Tower of London for centuries – said it is “currently unable” to sell books to Northern Ireland.

We cite someone on page four who is having to get a relative to pick the book up in London and bring it over.

Jim Allister MP was mocked by some unionists for having achieved nothing. On the contrary, his analysis of the border has been spot on, since the first word of it emerged when Boris Johnson agreed the original Northern Ireland Protocol (the then prime minister had mocked his predecessor for agreeing an internal UK border). Mr Allister now points out that we are subject to a process of disinheritance from our own nation.

We have reported in recent months how this border gets worse and worse as it is unveiled in stages.

It covers everything from digital downloads to cuff links that can’t be posted to honours recipients. It reaches into foods, the handling of pets and – possibly – medicines.

Even worse, the EU reach is now interpreted as including an increasingly wide range of rights, which means we cannot be sure if the Supreme Court ruling applies in full, or how the handling of legacy is affected or immigration.

Some politicians may not have grasped something simple: the amelioration or absence of some checks at the goodwill of the EU does is not the same as the absence of legal difference between NI and GB.