'Brexit is being used to destroy peace in Northern Ireland. Don't let them'

Today, all of Westminster is waiting, fingers in mouth, for a decision on whether Rishi Sunak has reached a deal that could solve the problems caused by Brexit in Northern Ireland.

What he has NOT done is solve the problems caused by a small number of idiots who are so stubborn, argumentative and prone to self-harm that they look like dodos on the train banging lemmings after the pub.

Democratic Unionist Party to decide whether Sunak's new EU deal stands or falls; and whether they like it or not, they seem determined to use it to destroy a peace they never wanted in the first place.

It was the DUP that campaigned against the Good Friday Agreement, which finally brought peace after decades of war, when it was signed in 1998.

It was the DUP that fought hard for Brexit, knowing full well it was incompatible with the peace deal.

And it was the DUP that set “red lines” for any changes, which, if observed, would violate international law, alienate the United States, and no prime minister could ever obey.< /p>

They and their Tory allies are not doing this because it is in the best interests of Northern Ireland. There is virtually no support among voters. The DUP doesn't care about restarting The Troubles, because that gives them a reason to exist.

EU President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are due to announce a new agreement today to facilitate the movement of goods to and from Northern Ireland (

Picture:

PA)

The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic is a border that no one is allowed to control. According to the law, there should be no checkpoints, no movement restrictions and no border guards. It was this porous, imaginary compromise that allowed Republicans and Unionists alike to sign up to it, on the grounds that they remained in the UK but could pretend to be one with Ireland. /p>

This concept won two referendums, changed the constitution of the Republic of Ireland and allowed Unionists and Republicans not only to share power in the province, but also for their children to go to the same schools , communities to rebuild and enmities to be set aside.

Only Tony Blair could have come up with something so slippery, and it worked. Until Brexit challenged it, terrorists-turned-gangsters again turned to politics, and people like journalist Lyra McKee, shot while covering riots in the ensuing unrest, are found on a new frontline.