Boris Johnson was chosen by the Conservatives, and the voters in the 2019 election, to break the parliamentary deadlock and get Brexit done. Brexit is now yesterday’s argument. We are out of the European Union.
But the settlement leaves much for his successor to untangle. The Northern Ireland protocol, part of the withdrawal agreement, leaves Northern Ireland within the EU’s internal market and required to observe EU customs rules. This puts the union in question. If Northern Ireland is linked economically with Ireland, why, some ask, should it not be linked politically as well? Paradoxically, a unionist prime minister has put the union in doubt. Nor has he been able to persuade the Scots that he has their interests close to his heart.
