He added: “The above is, of course, obvious to any sane minded individual. What is more remarkable is that the report was published by the EU.”
The 2017 study commissioned by the European Parliament provided background on cross-border movement and trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It also identified international standards and best practices to create a smooth border.
Mr Habib continued: “Even though Varadkar (and the EU) knew there was no risk to peace from a customs border, he went to Brussels brandishing photos of bombed out border posts from 1972. The threat he made was clear – if a customs border, or a hard border as he called it, were to be placed on the island, violence would return.
“It was this more than anything that cowed Theresa May’s and then Boris Johnson’s governments over Brexit. May wanted to keep the entire UK in the EU’s Single Market, thereby neutering Brexit. Johnson, instead, with the Protocol, threw Northern Ireland under a bus and partitioned the United Kingdom with a border down the Irish Sea. Without a single shot fired, Johnson and Lord Frost surrendered Northern Ireland to the EU.
“If Varadkar were now genuinely contrite, he would advocate the ripping up of the Protocol. He is not. His faux humility is cover for the EU and himself insisting on the Protocol remaining in place but with (and this is his likely optical concession) customs checks across the Irish Sea made less visible.
“Varadkar and his masters in Brussels said the price of Brexit would be Northern Ireland and they are intent on that prize. Past precedent and Sunak’s supine attitude to the EU suggest the British Government will do nothing to protect the integrity of the United Kingdom.”
READ ABOUT RISHI SUNAK’S RESPONSE TO THE NHS CRISIS
