Brexit: It’s England vs Ire-land

The European Union (EU) hailed it as a deal that would see the United Kingdom exiting the bloc in an “orderly fashion”. However, as prime minister Boris Johnson is clobbering up support of MPs in getting the deal on table cleared by the House – and in the time he is terribly pressed for, appeasing the Irish representatives who have decided to block the move, or try and wean out sympathising leaders from the Labour camp in the Opposition to fill in their shoes – order is in short change when it is being billed as the hyped currency ahead of Saturday when the House convenes to vote. 

These proposals are not, in our view, beneficial to the economic well-being of Northern Ireland and they undermine the integrity of the Union

DUP in an official statement

At the eye of the storm that is threatening to wash away Johnson’s attempt to follow through the deal, which has seen the 10 Downing Street welcome three occupants over three years since the British voted for the exit in referendum, is the Democratic Unionist Party or the DUP that wields power over Northern Ireland and has supported Britain’s move against annexure to the EU.

The DUP representatives, traditionally political allies to Britain are roiled by the prime minister relenting to customs checks while entering Northern Ireland. The DUP is vehemently against the move, which it looks upon as an unexpected betrayal by Britain.The DUP has, in its official statement said, “These proposals are not, in our view, beneficial to the economic well-being of Northern Ireland and they undermine the integrity of the Union.”

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds told the BBC that Boris Johnson was “too eager by far to get a deal at any cost”, and said the terms he has agreed to are unacceptable to the people of northern Ireland. DUP leader Arlene Foster reaffirmed the party MPs will vote against the Bill on Saturday. She has termed the agreement between EU and Boris Johnson as “prime minister under pressure… settling for a one-sided consent mechanism”.

The DUP leaders who broke bread with 10 Downing Street sharks are now being chewed up by rival unionists from within their party who are accusing them of falling prey to the “catastrophic miscalculation and backstabbing”.

Quoting from the media outlets and the political commentators who have been observing the volatile developments around the Brexit Deal, the Guardian writes that “the greatest and most humiliating concessions in the new Brexit accord concluded on Thursday that had been made not by the EU, but by Boris Johnson”.           

The UK has till October 31 to clear the deal and bring Brexit into play. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, has at best been equivocal when questioned if the Union will loosen the leash on the UK in the event it fails to get the deal approved in Parliament by October 31. May has long gone. As October nears its end, it already sounds like a reprise of Johnson’s predecessor who failed to get the deal on Brexit cleared thrice in the Parliament before she cleared out of the 10 Downing Street herself.