Boris Johnson’s Brexit mess is a threat to peace in Northern Ireland

The headline in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph has disturbed me profoundly. It quotes our prime minister accusing the EU of threatening the integrity of the UK. Boris Johnson should know full well that Brexit, not the EU, that has done exactly that.

Born and bred in Belfast, I have spent much of my professional life working for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. I entered politics in the 1990s, was involved on the fringes of the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement and I helped set up the first EU Peace programme, which has invested £2bn in cross-community peace building ever since.  

The Good Friday Agreement won the blessing of the majority in Northern Ireland in a referendum. It was accepted as the best way to end conflict and work towards peace and reconciliation. The result of the UK/EU referendum did not have the blessing of the people of either Northern Ireland or Scotland.  

Brexit, and the government’s handling of the negotiations, has shaken relations between the EU and the UK to the very core. It has led to increased pressure from Scotland for another referendum on independence and from those in Ireland, North and South, calling for a referendum on a united Ireland.  

These calls have grown as a result of the UK withdrawal from the EU, not as a result of action on the part of the EU. Boris Johnson knows this full well but he is desperate to lay the blame on the EU rather than his own actions.  

It was his work, exaggerating the “bendy banana” stories when he was a reporter in Brussels, which helped stir up British animosity to the EU. It was his decision to side with the Leave campaign in the lead up to the referendum that swung many voters in that direction. It is his inability to marry the deal he agreed with Brussels to the promises he made to Northern Ireland business which puts him in the position he finds himself in today.  

The dogs in the street know there is no way goods could travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without customs checks somewhere in case they move into the EU single market. Checks on the Irish border would be the worst case scenario for obvious reasons.  

The fish in the sea know, when it comes to quotas, there is no way a line can be drawn down the Irish Sea, in the middle of Lough Foyle or Carlingford Lough to prevent EU boats, including Irish, fishing in UK waters. The same goes for UK boats in Irish/EU waters.  

The birds on the wing know only they can have freedom of movement to cross borders without papers to prove where they’ve come from, where they’re going and what they intend to do when they get there.  

Most important of all, right-minded people the world over know you can’t break a law even just a little, without facing the consequences.  

In his Telegraph article, Boris Johnson defends his decision to propose breaking international law on several counts. The first that the EU should be willing to offer the same terms to the UK as it does to Canada. Geography may not be his strong point, but the PM should know Canada doesn’t have a land border with the EU.  

The second, he says, is that we were negotiating with “one hand tied behind our back” due to a vote in parliament. He shouldn’t need reminding that parliament represents the sovereignty of the nation. His plan to “take back control” from Brussels should not imply placing it directly into both his hands.

He describes the current deal as “excellent” but blames the EU for its “extreme interpretation” of the withdrawal agreement. He goes on to claim “we are being told” the EU “might actually stop the transport of food from GB to Northern Ireland”.  

The PM says he doesn’t believe the EU would do that but warns “by actively undermining the union of our country, such an interpretation would seriously endanger peace and stability in Northern Ireland”.

This is an astounding accusation which runs counter to everything the EU has done for peace in Northern Ireland. It undermines all the EU stands for and everything it is doing to protect the peace process in the Brexit negotiations.

The shocking crux of the PM’s justification for the bill is that, “It is therefore crucial for peace, and for the union itself”.  

I have seen much in my time as a journalist in Brussels, a BBC reporter in Belfast and deputy speaker of the first new Northern Ireland Assembly working for peace in my country. But rarely have I seen such blatant twisting of the truth for political gain as I witnessed in the years before and after the UK voted to leave the EU.  

My simple plea to the PM is to ask him to think twice before he drives this wedge further into the growing crevasse between Britain and the EU, the UK and Ireland and between the divided communities in Northern Ireland.  

Jane Morrice is a Northern Irish politician and journalist who helped architect the Good Friday Agreement. She is the former deputy speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, former head of the European Commission office in Northern Ireland and former reporter for BBC Belfast