{"id":120078,"date":"2025-05-21T15:05:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T15:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/120078\/"},"modified":"2025-05-21T15:05:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T15:05:15","slug":"will-the-dup-finally-admit-it-was-wrong-about-brexit-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/120078\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the DUP finally admit it was wrong about Brexit? \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPursuing a new partnership with the EU is about meeting the needs of our times. This is not about ideology or returning to the divisions of the past but about ruthless pragmatism.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK minister leading the talks with the EU, repeated this mantra many times since February when it became clear that serious talks about Starmer\u2019s \u201creset\u201d of the UK\u2019s relations with the EU<\/a> were on the cards.<\/p>\n

Thomas-Symonds also said: \u201cWe want to put more money in the pockets of working people\u2026 we won\u2019t be defined by debates and arguments of the past.\u201d <\/p>\n

These guidelines are the exact opposite of what motivated the DUP in their Gadarene rush to join the most extreme English nativists to secure the hardest Brexit.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/a>\"David<\/a><\/p>\n

Ideology, fantasy, carelessness about people\u2019s financial and economic well-being \u2013 remember Donaldson saying he could live with 40,000 job losses? \u2013 formed the DUP\u2019s pole star. <\/p>\n


\n\"Join
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, what will be interesting to watch is whether the DUP support the closer alignment with the EU that is envisaged.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t happened yet; the outworkings need to be finalised, but there\u2019ll eventually be a much reduced Windsor Framework.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t that what the DUP want? Or do they not want rid of it if Britain follows \u2018dynamic alignment\u2019 with EU rules, which is what is going to happen?<\/p>\n

\"PrimePrime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen shake hands as the EU and British government agree the Windsor Framework <\/p>\n

It looks very much like Britain is going to adopt something similar to what Theresa May tried to achieve and which the DUP voted against.<\/p>\n

Since Britain is going to follow EU rules on food and veterinary arrangements, the need for detailed checks falls away, though customs declarations remain because the north stays in the single market. <\/p>\n

Does Monday\u2019s deal and the road map it sets out for further agreements to promote smoother trade mean the DUP will finally admit they were entirely wrong and that they now agree with the majority of people in the north who voted to stay in the EU?<\/p>\n

Or, and this will be interesting to behold, will they still prefer ideology, however crackers, and cleave to Reform? <\/p>\n

Farage endorsed Sammy Wilson and Ian \u00d3g (remember him?) and Wilson sits with Reform\u2019s MPs in the Commons and does his nodding dog act when one of them talks garbage about the EU. So far Gavin Robinson sits on the fence. <\/p>\n

Jim Allister\u2019s TUV was quickly out of the traps against all this. When it comes to the EU, you couldn\u2019t slip a cigarette paper between Allister and Farage (though you couldn\u2019t say the same about the north\u2019s place in the UK).<\/p>\n

Allister won\u2019t support Britain taking EU rules like Switzerland and Norway while having little or no say in those rules unless, like Norway, they pay for the privilege of being consulted. <\/p>\n

Reform MPs have said that if they ever get into government they will \u201ctear up\u201d all agreements Starmer makes with Brussels. Does the DUP support that?<\/p>\n

\"[A\"British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. PICTURE: CARL COURT\/PA (Carl Court\/Carl Court\/PA Wire) <\/p>\n

Bear in mind both the DUP and Allister defied the will of a majority of people here in 2016, guided by their crackpot ideology rather than by pragmatism and the prosperity of people here. <\/p>\n

Since Starmer repeats ad nauseam that there\u2019ll be no return to the customs union, single market or free movement of people, the all-Ireland economy will continue to flourish, as it has done since Brexit and the collapse of DUP hopes for a hard British border in Ireland.<\/p>\n

Not a single gain the DUP promised that Brexit would deliver, economic, financial or constitutional, has come to pass.<\/p>\n

In Britain 55% of people think leaving the EU was \u201cwrong\u201d; only 30% still think it was a good idea.<\/p>\n

By ham-stringing his government with his \u2018red lines\u2019, Starmer is preventing Britain achieving the growth he says is his government\u2019s overriding aim.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s deal and its subsequent development will still fail to undo the long-term damage remaining outside the EU will continue to inflict. <\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s national decline will continue, hastened by Starmer\u2019s red lines and the unpredictable effects of Trump upending international trade rules.<\/p>\n

We remain shackled to Britain\u2019s decomposing corpse, with growing political instability certain over the next four years as people resist Starmer\u2019s Austerity 2.0. <\/p>\n

There is a way out if it, however, and it\u2019s a route the Alliance party, unwavering supporters of the EU, might consider if they have any political imagination.<\/p>\n

They could join the growing clamour for the Irish government to agitate for a referendum on reunification.<\/p>\n

The European Council\u2019s 2017 decision guarantees that in the event of reunification, a new Ireland will automatically join the EU as a pre-existing member. <\/p>\n

That would have an immediate effect on the costs of reunification as well as the prosperity of everyone on the island.<\/p>\n

Surely something Alliance pragmatists should consider? <\/p>\n

If you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article and would like to submit a Letter to the Editor<\/a> to be considered for publication, please click here<\/a>Letters to the Editor are invited on any subject. They should be authenticated with a full name, address and a daytime telephone number. Pen names are not allowed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cPursuing a new partnership with the EU is about meeting the needs of our times. This is not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,53625,15,51029],"class_list":{"0":"post-120078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-uk-eu-summit-pa2025","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-wparota"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114546444367452431","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}