It is again unclear if UK is going to protect internal trade

The secretary of state for Northern Ireland, appearing on ITV’s ‘Peston’ show on Wednesday night, cast doubt on the government’s supposed intention to resolve some of the grievous problems arising from the disastrous Irish Sea border.

In summary, Mr Lewis cast doubt on the belief that London was going to take legislative action to protect the integrity of the United Kingdom, which has been threatened by the protocol.

It is worth recapping on the shambolic history to this saga.

In late 2018, Boris Johnson travels to Belfast to a rapturous reception at the DUP conference. In a bid to undermine his then Tory leader, Theresa May, he not only rules out an internal UK trade barrier, he specifies that he would never as prime minister accept a regulatory or customs border in the Irish Sea. But in autumn 2019, he agrees both, then basks in the adoration of EU leaders as if he has resolved the Brexit conundrums when in fact he has given Brussels what it wanted.

In 2020 Mr Johnson denied that there would be an Irish Sea border. In 2021, when it came into effect, he still denied it.

Then last summer, when the government seemed to have absorbed the massive implications of the protocol, it issued a command paper which amounted to a rewriting of the Irish Sea border.

For some reason, this tougher stance went cold in November. Then, in recent weeks, the government again seemed committed to overhauling the protocol. It rightly pointed out that the disgraceful border had been agreed under duress. So is it now once again resiling from reform? This is still unclear.

The outcome of the Stormont election will become clearer today. Unionists have suffered multiple humiliations in the London-Dublin determination to placate Sinn Fein. It is past time that the UK as a minimum moved to protect internal trade within its territory.