School of Politics and International Relations

Professor Tim Bale, DUP could be forced to accept Irish Sea border in Brexit deal

12 September 2018

The DUP could come under pressure to accept a border in the Irish Sea or face the possibility of a Jeremy Corbyn government where the party will no longer hold any power. Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary, said that Ireland retained the full support of the EU, which meant that there would be no withdrawal treaty unless the British government accepted a backstop. Professor Bale attended the Fianna Fáil meeting, where he was updating party members on the latest developments in London. “This could go either way in the UK. We are still in a position where we could crash out although I, on balance, think it is less likely than Theresa May managing to arrange some kind of fudge withdrawal agreement whereby some of the difficult issues are kicked into the transition period.”
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