Theresa May needs to put the British people before her friends in the DUP

Despite the harrumphing from unionists and Tory hard liners, this moment was always coming. A bespoke outcome was inevitable

Theresa May gives a speech as she attends a Brexit negotiations meeting (AFP/Getty Images)

Close, but no cigar. Eleven months after promising in her Lancaster House speech, to deliver a “practical solution” to the Irish border question “as soon as we can,” Theresa May’s quest to resolve this sticking point in the Brexit negotiations is still not finalised.

The outline of a deal, ensuring “regulatory alignment” between both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland – keeping Northern Ireland in the customs union and single market in all but name – is tantalisingly near.

“On a couple issues, some differences do remain,” Theresa May told a joint press conference with the EU Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.

The Prime Minister claimed she was “confident” the talks will conclude “positively” later this week.

The implication of a deal is clear: Northern Ireland will be treated differently to any other part of the UK, sharing, as it does, a land border with a European Union Member State.

This should not concern us. After all, the UK is not an arrangement of equals. Despite unionist howls, ministers are clearly on the cusp of deciding whether to put the interests of the British people ahead of placating their unionist allies in Northern Ireland.

Its high risk stuff for Theresa May, reliant, as she is, on the DUP to support her precarious parliamentary position, but she should hold her nerve. She may huff and puff, but Arlene Foster is in no hurry to bring the Tories down and risk putting Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10.

In her response to the briefings coming from Brussels this afternoon, the DUP leader restated that Northern Ireland “must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the United Kingdom.”

The problem, as the DUP well knows, is that Northern Ireland is already an anomaly in all sorts of regards. (The DUP has, for example, been at the forefront of pushing to lower Northern Ireland’s corporation tax rate from the UK’s 18 per cent rate to match the 12.5 per cent found in the Irish Republic).

When the outline of the soft border deal was initially floated last week, there was a suggestion that a restored Northern Ireland Executive would be part of the equation, perhaps administering the new regulatory arrangement.

Clearly, it needs to be up and running to do that. This may help reassure unionists that they are not being relegated to the sidelines, as would the release of the full £1.5bn they prized out of Theresa May for propping up her Government.

From the Irish side, there is unanimity across all parties that British ministers have paid lip service to the problems a hard border would present, not least in undermining the Good Friday Agreement settlement.

Brexiteer accusations that Leo Varadkar’s hardball stance is merely pandering to Sinn Fein, or a secret plot to grab Northern Ireland, are laughably wide of the mark. (All the more so because the Taoiseach is the least “green” Irish leader in living memory).

No, Irish determination over the border issue looks set to defeat wafty British nonchalance. Of course, it helps that Ireland’s position has been emphatically supported by the European Commission throughout.

Despite the harrumphing from unionists and Tory hard liners, this moment was always coming. Northern Ireland is different from the rest of the UK in so many regards. A bespoke solution is the obvious outcome. Ministers need to accept that basic reality, make a common sense concession later this week and move on to trade talks.

Theresa May needs to be decisive in coming days and stop the Unionist tail wagging the British dog.

Kevin Meagher is a former Special Adviser at the Northern Ireland Office and author of ‘A United Ireland: Why unification is inevitable and how it will come about’ published by Biteback