Rishi Sunak’s position as prime minister depends on a Conservative parliamentary majority won by Boris Johnson on the basis of three words: “Get Brexit done”. Mr Johnson honoured the pledge in the narrow technical sense of completing Britain’s legal withdrawal from the EU. But in no other meaning of the words was Brexit done. Northern Ireland’s main unionist party rejected the deal before it was signed, and hardline Tory Eurosceptics quickly joined them in denouncing a treaty that they had recently hailed as a triumph.
Mr Johnson’s model affronted unionists with customs checks in the Irish Sea – a condition of Northern Ireland’s special status within the EU single market. The same economic privilege (bestowed in order to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland) gives the European court of justice a remit in the region. For militant Brexiters, that is a portion of UK sovereignty held hostage in Brussels.
