In the decade since the vote to leave the European Union, arguably no issue has consumed more energy, column inches, political capital and careers than how to solve the problem of Northern Ireland.

It was on that narrow, jagged border between North and South that the substantive skirmishes took place between the UK and EU on what their future relationship would look like. While Michel Barnier and Lord Frost arguing the toss over the finer points of agri-food regulation may lack the lustre of the Battle of the Boyne or the romantic connotations of 1916, it was no less significant a moment in Northern Ireland’s history.

While unionism has been a loser of Brexit, the seeds of that defeat were not sown in Belfast but in Whitehall, particularly in the Northern Ireland Office, Foreign Office and of course, Downing Street

While unionism has been a loser of Brexit, the seeds of that defeat were not sown in Belfast but in Whitehall, particularly in the Northern Ireland Office, Foreign Office and of course, Downing Street

The unequivocal losers in this affair have been those who value Northern Ireland’s status and position in the UK. This decade has seen disaster stacked upon disaster. Unionism now plays second fiddle to nationalism at Stormont and,........

© The Spectator