Tony Blair: Government could oppose final Brexit deal

The Government would have a strong case to oppose a final Brexit deal without a clear, detailed agreement on how to avoid a hard border, Tony Blair has said. The former British prime minister said the deal agreed between Theresa May and the European Union last month did not resolve the issue of the Border.

"The important thing about the deal on Ireland was that it wasn't a deal, it was the agreement to postpone the deal. And what the discussion over Ireland shows is the central dilemma . . . of the whole negotiation, which is you are either in the single market and customs union, in which case you have an open border and frictionless trade, or not, which means you have a hard border and a hard Brexit," he told The Irish Times.

Mr Blair suggested that the Conservative government would seek to postpone detailed negotiations about Britain’s future relationship with the EU until a transitional period after the country leaves in March 2019. He said the British parliament should refuse to ratify a withdrawal agreement that would see Britain leaving the EU before it was clear what the future relationship would be.

Clarity

Asked if the same logic should lead Ireland to oppose a withdrawal deal for Britain without clarity on the Border, he said it was a decision for the Taoiseach.

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“I guess there is a strong case. But that is for the Irish government to decide,” he said.

“I think what he understands is the dilemma. And that in the end the dilemma is only resolvable by agreeing an open border between the UK and the Republic. Once you have agreed that it is hard to see how the rest of the UK stands in a different relationship. But it’s up to the Irish government to decide what is in the interest of the Irish people. The point I am really making is that the Northern Ireland problem is just a metaphor for the problem of the whole negotiation.”

Britain and the EU agreed last month that there should be no hard border on the island of Ireland, with London promising to propose “specific solutions” if necessary, while guaranteeing Northern Ireland’s continued place within the UK. Britain agreed that, if other solutions failed, it would maintain full alignment with the rules of the single market and the customs union which support North-South co-operation, the all-island economy and the Good Friday Agreement.

Aspiration

Mr Blair dismissed complaints from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) about comments by Mr Varadkar and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney about their aspiration for a united Ireland.

“Well, they’re perfectly entitled to say that. The Good Friday Agreement allows the nationalist aspirations to be recognised. But it doesn’t change the basic point, of course, that Northern Ireland remains part of the UK as long as a majority of people there want it. What this whole Brexit thing does is obviously it puts pressure on the Union. It’s bound to put pressure on the Union. I think long-term it will put pressure on the Union in respect of Scotland if we end up with a hard Brexit,” he said.