What’s happening with Brexit?

Ahead of the anniversary of when Brexit got ‘done’, Sean O’Grady examines the latest phase of a never-ending negotiation

Protesters dressed as customs officials man an unofficial checkpoint on the Irish border (Getty)

Christmas Eve marks the first anniversary of Brexit – the day in 2020 when Brexit finally got “done”. Or so everyone thought before the accords began to unravel, for some reason and another, shall we say. There was much unfinished business. The impression was that Johnson signed the withdrawal agreement in 2019 knowing it was a betrayal of Northern Ireland, hoping he could revisit it later on. Thus Michael Gove and Lord (David) Frost were dispatched to Brussels to conduct a renegotiation and grind the EU down until they offered some “concessions”. Meagre or not they would be an improvement on what he and Frost signed.

Now, it seems that the arguments may soon splutter to an exhausted standstill. The British appear to have caved in on the sensitive issue of the European Court’s jurisdiction over the operation of the single market in Northern Ireland – which is, after all, explicitly inside both the EU customs union as well as the UK internal market. In return, the EU has indicated it may go easy on the strict interpretation of the rules on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland/Ireland/the EU. Medicines, in particular, can flow freely. Quietly, the UK and Jersey have been more generous to French fisherfolk, another flashpoint. It may actually be that Brexit is, practically speaking, “done” at last, the “interim” status of the agreement allowing both sides to reserve their formal final positions indefinitely, and preserve their pride. Like the Korean war that ended in 1953, but which is technically still on, it is a ceasefire that seems set to turn into a permanent, if sometimes volatile, truce.