2x2 Glass half full? (Article - The Times)22 Sep 2019 16:25
Cross-border trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland only amounts to about £4 billion a year anyway, so there is a limit to the amount of lost tariff revenue that could result in increased smuggling. And that is only if the EU and the whole of the UK fail to strike a free trade deal that would almost certainly abolish all tariffs anyway.
In return, the UK (and the DUP) would have to agree to extend regulatory checks between Britain and Northern Ireland in all areas where exported goods might not comply with single market rules and regulations. This offer has yet to be formally tabled. Under this proposal Northern Ireland would become a special economic zone within the United Kingdom but linked to the Republic of Ireland too.
Making it work would be fiendishly complicated on a technical level and would require elements of political fudge as well. That's what Mr Johnson means when he talks about "statecraft".
We're not there yet. Not even anywhere close. But the talks that are now going on at every level between Dublin, London, Belfast, Brussels, Berlin and Paris show that all sides are serious.
For now that makes the glass half full.