One of the most notable things about the Irish border proposals Boris Johnson presented to Jean-Claude Juncker today is the DUP’s endorsement of them. For the duration of the Brexit process, Arlene Foster and her MPs have again and again rejected any solution that involves regulatory divergence between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Yet the government’s plans — to which Foster has publicly given her imprimatur — do involve regulatory divergence. They would at the bare minimum require checks on goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, something the DUP always opposed under Theresa May. It’s important to note that this objection to new east-west controls isn’t merely an outworking of their blanket opposition to any new divergence, but something they ruled out specifically.
Content from our partners
