Boris’s Brexit stance is either reckless or ignorant

Boris Johnson’s statement that he would not impose a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the event of no deal may be said with sincerity and for the best of reasons, but he is either proposing something completely reckless – which will be deeply and fundamentally damaging to the whole of the British economy – or else he does not understand the UK’s legal obligations under the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

That treaty was drawn up after the experience of the trade wars of the 1930s and the way in which they helped create the atmosphere that led on to war. So the treaty is designed to check any moves towards using trade as a crude instrument of foreign policy and to encourage its growth as a cement for peace.

For these reasons its first clause imposes a strict obligation on all signatories to offer ‘most favoured nation’ status to all other signatory states that are not separately bound by mutual trade agreements.