It’s a counter-intuitive take – but it’s what the sum of opinion polling in recent years tends to suggest.
It looks to be the least bad medium-term means of settling the future of abortion laws in Northern Ireland.
“Two years later no-one knows what they want, even the Tory party. Theresa May says one thing and Boris Johnson says another.”
We are being nudged towards Norway Minus rather than Canada Plus Plus Plus almost without anyone noticing.
So much of the Government’s strategy is predicated on the belief that this is impossible. But what if that’s wrong?
Not being able to blame Brussels for our problems nor look to the EU for solutions will be immensely reinvigorating.
It knows that it can continue the policy of staying out of the institutions in Belfast and London without damaging its long-term strategy. Unionists need them to work.
“Even Keir Starmer said last week that no British Prime Minister could accept the backstop. No British Prime Minister could.”
“This would mean a very big change to the EU Withdrawal Bill that is before Parliament and a significant step forward in these negotiations.”
All in all, the Progress Document is something of a canine’s breakfast, with the Irish border tail wagging the UK dog.
What is almost certainly motivating the Taoiseach’s comments is the lack of concrete proposals about how proposed new arrangements will work.
If there must be checks on goods leaving the island of Ireland, is it not more natural that they take place crossing the border where checks on persons already occur?