..to ask all Leave supporters ( and anyone else) to write to their MP and say you will accept an NI only backstop so that we can leave the EU in an orderly way on 31 October 2019?

[bellinisurge]

Just that. We could leave on that basis . The EU is up for it. Are you?

No I would not like to see the UK split up like that and I dont think people from N.Ireland would like violence to return if we did.

Violence will return to Northern Ireland if there is a hard border between it and either Ireland (i.e. no backstop) or the rest of the UK (i.e. a Northern Ireland-only backstop). There is no way of avoiding a hard border without an all-UK backstop, except in the imaginations of Boris "Magic" Johnson and his chums.

YABU

My MP doesn't give a fuck what I think/want.

No. There's also a Brexit Board. Go & spew your bile there.

Why should anyone write to their MP to say they are happy for no deal? That was not what leavers voted for, they voted on the basis there would be a good deal, that UK would be better off and be the land of milk and honey. More fool them for trusting the leave campaign but don't compromise on what you voted for, if the govt can't deliver the terms they tabled then the negotiation has to start again with the citizens of UK, not say to the EU that we want xxx as we lied to our electorate and promised this so now you have to meet our demands.

@Iggly - are you really that ignorant? Words fail me.

Fedup very very well said. We are from Omagh. Every August when I go into kit the kids out for school I think of the mums and kids who were doing the same and didn't come home and we visit the memorial garden. My kids are young, they know about it, but the don't understand really, because it's so alien to them, AND I WANT IT TO STAY THAT WAY!!!!

This was post GFA. mummy talks about moving on and we should be over it. Its not 21 years yet, and yes thats a lifetime to many but it feels lile yesterday. Watch this tribute at the end of a 6pm newsline programme at the time and for those that want a no deal, thanks for risking everything. This is not an easy watch.

WTO requires a border. It’s not even about the EU.

@LaurieMarlow - you've seen & tested the 'new technology' have you? No one else had been party to it over 3 long years. Talk facts or keep quiet I would, unless you want part of our country torn up again.

green lavender why don’t you specify exactly what new technology you’re talking about and show how it’s been tested to demonstrate fitness for purpose. Thanks.

Sorry GL, I suspect you’re mixing me up with someone else. I’m not advocating a pie in the sky ‘technological’ border.

Why do some people think my op wants people to lobby for No Deal?
I want the opposite. I want people to lobby for an NI only backstop.
Why is that filth to be spewed in a corner? I don't get it.

I don't want us to Leave the EU at all but if we have to, we must do it in an orderly way that avoids No Deal.

The GFA took years (20+) of painstaking work from some of the keenest minds in this area globally.

It has been successful beyond people’s dreams and has transformed life in NI.

The fact that the brexiteers want to tear it up just because they can’t be arsed working out the details of their little ‘rebellion’ makes me honestly despair.

They cannot have any sense of how this makes them look on the international stage. It’s appalling behaviour.

Mama345, don't be so confident in that. That's the mistake the government made. They were arrogant enough to assume that the remain side would win that they didn't prepare for a leave win. Either side could win if there was another vite.

Which is why @LaurieMarlow , if we have to leave, an NI only backstop- which the EU is content with- is the way to go. The thinking has been done. We could meet the silly deadline.

I totally agree with you bellini

@bellinisurge Not as good as remain, but the only viable option at the moment.

Would not surprise me if BJ’s plan is to have a general election to get rid of the DUP and implement a NI only backstop. Likely to break up the union, but a compromise many Tories are said to be prepared to make.

Thanks @bellinisurge for this thread. I don’t know what we can do here in NI to get it through to People that No Deal is going to cause untold pain here.

For what it’s worth I have already written to my MP but since he is in the DUP I don’t expect much of a response.

What else can we do? Like other posters I’m frankly terrified for my children.

I am genuinely confused as to how all this would work.
I recently went to Norway via Denmark. There were border checks and a Customs Allowance for ordinary travellers regulating what could and couldn't be brought in. It's in Schengen so there weren't passport checks.

Come Brexit, we won't be in the EU and we aren't in Schengen anyway. So how will the border be regulated? Will there be ordinary customs borders regulating what can and can't be brought in? Alcohol and tobacco allowances. Will there be passport checks?

I can sort of see how companies can work with proper checks. But what about the ordinary traveller?

I cross the Swiss border regularly. It's in Schengen so technically no passport checks but there are limits on imports for individuals, I'm allowed buy 300 euros or so worth of goods in Switzerland to bring into france without declaring it and for example there is a limit on the amount of meat that can be brought into Switzerland per person.

This means in practice there are armed guards on the border who can, and frequently do, stop me in my car, ask questions and search my car if they feel like it. This will not work in NI and a border like this is totally against the GFA. And I guess the army will need to enforce it - I can't see rank and file Gardai or PSNI doing it.

As for those who claim the UK just won't put up a border, words fail me. Borders aren't an EU invention, it's how the world works. Like it or not, RoI is a totally independent state, not a UK dependency, and respects international treaties. Hard Brexit means a guarded border and the ripping up of the GFA. Signing the WA with a NI backstop is the best compromise available.

but there are limits on imports for individuals, I'm allowed buy 300 euros or so worth of goods in Switzerland to bring into france without declaring it and for example there is a limit on the amount of meat that can be brought into Switzerland per person

THIS. And there needs to be such a border for individuals either on NI / ROI border or between NI and the rest of the UK. I honestly don't understand how politicians can't see this. It's like they haven't travelled to countries outside the EU.

NI is part of the UK. You can’t split a country in half

Sigh. NI is also part of Ireland and its residents can get Irish, ie EU, passports. Therefore it has to have a special status as a non-EU territory full of EU citizens or people who could be. I just cannot see why our politicians can't grasp this very simple fact.

Alternatively, as Boris isn't bothered about immigration we could stay in the CU and SM as a whole and the problem would go away.

Two easy options to avoid no deal while honouring the referendum result.

@chomalungma , if there is a backstop only in NI it would work as it does now. Could even sling some Freeport type stuff in there to help NI prosper out of this.

In all seriousness though, the original referendum was voted on a pack of lies, not mistruths, actual bare faced lies.

If leave are so confident they can win without the use of lies what harm does a second referendum do?

As for democracy and will of the people surely it is undemocratic to plod on with Brexit when the electorate were deliberately lied to and not given the facts and means to make a rational choice.

I agree with this. And would not trust Boris with a bargepole, especially as his Vote Leave group, along with other Leave campaigns, were fined or implicated in various frauds.

Regarding NI, I can understand the concerns. My DBro lived there for a number of years and shared with us lots of information that the rest of the UK close their ears to (including my ex, he voted Leave, the twat).

Personally I favour cancelling Brexit.

@BitOfANameChange , we have to compromise and that is my compromise suggestion that saves GFA and gets us an orderly Brexit. I voted Remain but , if anything, Leave positions have hardened into this ridiculous love for No Deal. This suggestion avoids that catastrophe.