A brake is not a veto
For all the concessions, the oiling of wheels and slashing of red tape, Northern Ireland remains in the EU’s Single Market for goods and the final arbitrator of the rules of the Single Market is the ECJ.
The so-called “brake” requires a complicated set of requirements before it can be applied and if new rules are finally rejected by the UK the EU can still retaliate with “remedial measures”.
Nevertheless I get the sense that Rishi Sunak has done enough to shoot the ERG’s horse. He has the momentum, the DUP is looking isolated and the ERG faces creating a huge amount of economic and political damage to achieve what?
But what a dog’s dinner this has all been, a complete mess, that has taken years to patch up, has caused immense political and economic damage.
The attacks on the NIP by the PM and many others (who voted for it) yesterday were withering, no wonder Boris Johnson stayed away.
That is a good sign but this is still a mess, a mess of the Tory party’s making.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.