Editorial: Various EU talks threads over Northern Ireland might be coming together in unwelcome way

Things seem to be moving quickly in the talks between the European Union and the United Kingdom over Northern Ireland.

​We cannot know that for sure, because all sorts of people seem to be briefing the media in Westminster and Brussels about the content of a supposed deal.

But with the Daily Telegraph last night reporting a UK climbdown on some of its key protocol demands, one thing seems clear: that London is not even trying to push for the sort of concessions that were in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

That legislation would give UK ministers sweeping powers to disapply parts of the Irish Sea border. While some unionists have pointed out that as an enabling act it might never even be used much, at least it would have been an escape route if future UK-EU divergence put NI at ever increasing odds with Great Britain in terms of trade rules.

Meanwhile, as we report on our front page the government is playing down the notion of 'Dáithí's Law' being passed at Westminster.

Perhaps all this being over stated. Perhaps a UK-EU deal is not in fact near, and won’t be struck.

But there is a real possibility that lots of threads of the last seven years will come together in an unwelcome way: the ultimate weakness of the UK, despite lots of huffing and puffing, whenever it is confronted with Irish unhappiness; the abject failure of business groups to speak up for by far our most important trade, across the Irish Sea; unionist vacillation at points and talk of best of both worlds which sent contradictory messages to the EU; and the failure of the Tory Party, despite intermittent loud proclamations of unionism, to swing behind the Union.

The government does not even seem to be giving unionists concessions in other key policy areas as it moves with increasing determination towards a deal.