The message has now been deleted. Christ almighty.
Now that she has received a mandate from her government to go to Brussels and seek “alternative arrangements” to replace the Irish backstop in her Brexit plan, Theresa May is seeking to re-open negotiations in order to secure a “legally binding change”.
The EU have been steadfast in stating that the deal will not be re-negotiated.
The following statement was released from the European Council president, Donald Tusk: “The Withdrawal Agreement is and remains the best and only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The backstop is part of the Withdrawal Agreement, and the Withdrawal Agreement is not open for re-negotiation.”
Well, given the litany of astonishing claims, ignorance, and stupidity that various MPs have demonstrated regarding Anglo-Irish politics in the last few years, it takes something that’s truly “special” to grab the headlines.
Mr Gerard Batten MEP, step right up.
Since February 2018, Batten has been the leader of Ukip and he’s also an MEP.
In a tweet that has now been deleted, Batten said: “Here’s a fact about the Irish border. There are approx 100 lorries per day crossing the RoI & NI border. This accounts for 0.5% of UK/EU trade. One company accounts for 50% of these trips – that company is Guinness. And this is the false premise that is holding up Brexit”.
As stated by InterTrade Ireland – one of the cross-border bodies that was created under the Good Friday Agreement – in the space of a month, 177,000 lorries, 205,000 vans and over 1.8m cars cross the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
In one day, it is estimated that 30,000 people make the cross-border commute to work.
Those figures can be viewed here although it should be noted that these particular figures are from June 2017.
Regardless, it’s quite clear that Mr Batten is talking through his arse.
This isn’t the first time that Batten’s views on Ireland have been widely critiscised.
In 2017, in response to the Irish government’s intervention in the Brexit negotiations, he said that Ireland is “a tiny country that relies on the UK for its existence” and that Ireland is the “weakest kid in the playground sucking up to EU bullies.”
Here’s a screengrab of Batten’s deleted tweet.
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