Editorial: Windsor structure has been kept as insurance for​​​​​​ EU

​​It is not surprising that many unionists have become indifferent to whether or not there is a 'pure' Brexit, and only care about whether or not the Irish Sea border can be removed.

After all, unionists who supported a UK departure from the European Union, indeed the fullest sort of departure (an exit from both the single market and the customs union) had almost no reciprocation from Brexiteers in support for keeping Northern Ireland fully within the United Kingdom.

Certainly not from two of the architects of Brexit, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. Mr Johnson almost merrily betrayed the DUP and Mr Farage barely ever mentions NI, or if he does only pays lip service to the importance of our place in the UK.

Therefore, a Brexiteer from NI who demands the fullest possible Brexit now is either a dupe (giving support to fellow Brexiteers who won't give it back) or a true believer (a principled supporter of Brexit regardless of whether or not it is reciprocated).

Many other unionists will, understandably, just want any arrangement that lessens our barriers with the rest of the UK, the full scale of which have gradually become so apparent.

The government is under fire for not being able to say the extent to which the Irish Sea border will be mitigated by its reset with the EU. This is not unexpected for two key reasons – the border is fiendishly complicated and its exact outworkings have been uncertain all the way trough. But also, the last Conservative government and this Labour one both underplay the barrier.

Meanwhile, the DUP leader Gavin Robinson is entirely right to zone in on the fact that the UK is allowing the Windsor Framework to be kept. This is insurance to Brussels, that either the UK adopts a Brexit on the EU’s terms or it reverts to a harder Brexit in which case NI stays largely in the EU orbit.