SUCH a good letter from Nigel A Callaghan (December 11), writing from the Land of Brân the Blessed, and querying the legality of Boris Johnson’s Brexit. I don’t think there can be any doubt that Brexit would breach the Treaty of Union, and not only that, it would also contravene current law (Section 55 of the Taxation Act 2018), which prevents Northern Ireland having different customs rules from the rest of the UK.
READ MORE: Doesn’t the PM’s Brexit deal breach articles of the Acts of Union?
However, there is a silver lining in all this. We only need to think it through logically. The basis of the Union was (supposedly) to create a unitary customs and trading area, parity if you like for all parts of the UK. However, we can see that Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal clearly breaches the Treaty of Union by giving Northern Ireland different trade and customs arrangements from the rest of the UK. Therefore, by passing his Brexit bill into law, Boris Johnson would actually invalidate the raison d’etre for the Treaty of Union, and thereby the treaty itself!
If Boris Johnson is returned with a working majority to push his Brexit bill through, he will hand us independence on a plate without even the need for a referendum!
Solomon Steinbett
Maryhill, Glasgow
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