Theresa May’s response to today’s Brexit developments has been revealing. At PMQs, she called staying in a customs union with the EU a ‘betrayal’ of the referendum result, a definite ramping up of her rhetoric, and said that ‘no UK prime minister could ever agree to what the EU’s draft legal text proposes on Northern Ireland.’
What makes May’s comments so interesting is that many believe, including the Foreign Secretary, that the EU is raising the stakes on the Irish border to try and get the UK, as a whole, to commit to staying in a customs union with the EU. May seems to want to make clear to other EU governments that this is a non-starter for her. Her comments on Northern Ireland, which undoubtedly box her in, again seem designed to make EU governments realise just how unacceptable these proposals are to her; and to show that she isn’t going to change her mind on this.
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