We are now 25 months on from Britain’s exit from the EU. Yet Brexit remains undone. The messy economic consequences are still unravelling, arrangements for Northern Ireland remain unclear, and the government has embarked on a mission to find hidden legislative “opportunities” lurking in the Brexit bushes.
Foreign secretary Liz Truss may be talking tough on Russia, but she is speaking softly on the UK’s endless row with the EU. With the Ukraine crisis absorbing all attention, the Northern Ireland Protocol issue appears to have been quietly placed on the back burner.
Truss and her EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic have agreed recent talks have sparked “neither breakthrough nor breakdown” – pledging to carry on with negotiations to ease trade barriers without a deadline. So it looks like the Northern Ireland election will come and go in May with nothing resolved.
Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis has said there was a very real risk the Stormont executive will not return after the election, given the DUP’s “never, never, never” stance on the protocol. Will the mess flare up before marching season?
Meanwhile, Brexit opportunities Jacob Rees-Mogg’s war on EU red tape has turned into a war on the metric system – as the government launches a study into the benefits of reintroducing imperial units of measurements. Can Rees-Mogg placate Tory Brexiteers?
It comes as logistics chiefs and local politicians urged the government to start building more lorry parks near Dover or face “complete gridlock” around the port, as post-Brexit checks continue to cause huge delays.
Desperate drivers caught in four-hour queues near Dover have been forced to “s*** in the bushes” and throw bottles of urine out of the window, The Independent has been told. Is there any sign of relief on the way?
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