Sturgeon, Sunak and the state of the Union

Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation as First Minister of Scotland comes at a critical moment for the Union, since the question of Scottish independence has inevitably been tied to the ongoing dilemmas over Brexit. It seems that, over the next week or two, the UK and the EU will announce a potential agreement over the revision of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Goods travelling from mainland Britain for consumption in Northern Ireland will no longer be subject to automatic checks; a trusted trader scheme will allow most shipments to be waved through. In return, it appears that the UK government has dropped its opposition to the role of the European Court of Justice as the ultimate arbiter in disputes involving trade between Britain and the island of Ireland.

It is not guaranteed to succeed: the DUP is said still to be resisting. Without its support, government at Stormont cannot be restored and Northern Ireland will remain in democratic limbo. But it is a positive development that progress has finally been made on this open sore and resolving this matter will go a long way to negating the idea, often touted in Scotland, that Britain’s departure from the EU is bound to lead to a break-up of the United Kingdom not just across the Irish sea but to the north, too.

The UK parliament should never have agreed to place an internal UK border down the Irish Sea. That it happened was in part due to the ennui generated by several years of Brexit negotiations: Conservative MPs were so desperate to get Brexit out of the way that they failed to spot the toxic ingredient in Boris Johnson’s ‘oven-ready’ deal.