Congratulations, Mr Johnson—you've found an Irish border plan where no-one gets what they want

Having grown up in Belfast, my memories of the border during the Troubles are far and few between. I remember a car trip to Dublin as a child, my parents having a blazing argument in the front seats. A checkpoint interrupted them. Mid-screaming match, my parents barely speaking, we all had to get out of our car while somebody—a solider, probably—checked under the bonnet.

On September 20, I attended the Centre for Cross Border Studies 20^th Anniversary Conference. The Centre, established the year after Good Friday Agreement, aims to promote and support cross border co-operation. The Centre runs “Border People,” a “central access point for cross border mobility information on the Island of Ireland.” Border People has been running since 2001, and now has a special “Brexit hub” where people can get guidance on citizenship, education and employment.

The Irish Border is at the heart of Brexit. It isn’t a game, although the events of the past few days would make you wonder.

On September 30, RTs Tony Connolly reported that the British Government had finally come forward with an alternative to the Backstop. The alleged plans apparently involved “customs clearance centres” in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, all located 5-10 minutes away from the border.

Connolly’s report sparked both mirth and anger. Customs centres located close to the border would be viewed as “border infrastructure,” something the UK Government under Theresa May had pledged to avoid in the 2017 Joint Report with the European Commission.

In an interview with the BBC’s Nick Robinson on October 1, however, Boris Johnson said Connolly’s report was “not quite right.” The Government wasn’t proposing customs posts close to the border, he said, but added that checks would have to take place somewhere. Worryingly, in a later interview with Laura Kuenssberg, he repeated a similar line.

Why was Johnson being so vague? We got our answer this morning. According to the Daily Telegraph, the Prime Minister is proposing “two borders, for four years.” Northern Ireland will remain aligned to the EU rules on agriculture and industrial goods during that period. At the same time, it will remain aligned to the UK customs territory. There will be an east-west border between Britain and Northern Ireland, and a North/South border between the Republic and Northern Ireland. After those four years, Northern Ireland’s political parties will decide whether they want to continue aligning with the EU or the UK.

Under Johnson’s plan, nobody gets what they want. Most unionists in Northern Ireland are opposed to a border down the Irish Sea because they see it as a threat to Northern Ireland’s place in the union. While some would be happy to see a hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, most people don’t want checks between the two jurisdictions.

At the time of writing, it isn’t clear whether the DUP will support the latest proposals. The party has been clear that it wants a role for the Northern Ireland Assembly if there are to be any Northern Ireland specific solutions. Theresa May proposed some input for Stormont—but Johnson’s offering puts the political parties in the driving seat.

It isn’t clear yet, though, how Stormont would approve alignment with either the EU or the UK. Depending on the make up of the Assembly, any vote to align with the EU or the UK could be stopped by a block of unionists or nationalists via the “Petition of Concern” mechanism. Johnson’s proposals could therefore drive a further wedge between the two communities.

It’s as though the British Government wants Northern Ireland to be placed in containment. For four years, everyone must face their worst fears. We are to be an experiment, all the worst-case scenarios of Brexit rolled into one.  The proposals are so thoughtless, so ill conceived, that it makes one thing very clear: Boris Johnson isn’t serious about getting a deal with the EU.

The fear of a No Deal Brexit and the impact it could have on people’s day to day lives is real and sharpening as the days roll by. Border communities don’t know what’s ahead of them. Johnson’s plans will do little to reassure them.

On Newsnight this week, Conservative MP Brandon Lewis spoke in favour of the Prime Minister’s proposals, arguing that his constituents don’t ask about the mechanics of Brexit. Lewis is MP for Great Yarmouth. His constituents don’t have to worry about passing a customs checkpoint when they go to work. They probably aren’t worried about the prospect of violence.

In Northern Ireland, the border lives in the minds of everyone. It defines whether you are a nationalist, republican, unionist or loyalist.  Those lines have hardened over the past three years. Nobody in Northern Ireland, leave or remain, voted for this chaos. Backstop, no backstop, a hard border or a border down the Irish Sea—it is shameful that Northern Ireland has been put in this position.

Maybe those in the Westminster bubble don’t have to answer on “the mechanics.” But where the stark reality of Brexit sits, somewhere between Warrenpoint and Derry/Londonderry, what happens next is far from academic.