Lexit and the Irish Border.
For those who are unaware, Lexit refers to those left-wingers who support Brexit. Most of the UK Leninist left fall into this camp as do their sister organisations in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
As the Irish Border is the biggest headache for the UK Government to try and resolve, I’m looking here at what the most influential Lexit organisation, the Communist Party of Britain(CPB), has to say about it. Their views on a “People’s Brexit” are reflected in the Morning Star and the “Leave, Fight, Transform” (LeFT) campaign which unites them with other Lexiters inside and outside of the Labour Party. The founding statement of LeFT appeared in LabourList under the name of Labour’s Sarah Cundy (12 August 2019).
People’s Brexit.
What exactly do the CPB and LeFT mean by a “People’s Brexit” though? They stated it clearly here — “ ‘Britain should leave the EU on WTO [World Trade Organisation] terms’, Communists propose.” (28 January 2019). A “WTOBrexit” is also known as “No Deal Brexit” as it is how we will trade with the EU if we leave without a deal on 31 October. The CPB have opposed all Article 50 extensions and continue to do so. Their vision of how the Irish border would operate after leaving the EU is on World Trade Organisation terms (1).
Communist Party of Britain/Morning Star/LeFT and the Irish Border.
What then are the views of the CPB on the Irish border conundrum? Does it offer a solution that others have missed?
A briefing note was produced by the CPB for trade unionists and Labour activists earlier this year (The EU and Brexit — Questions and Answers ) where the following question and answer appeared.
I have been unable to find any reference on the internet to a “Hard Border 2.0 (September 2014)” document from the “all-party Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament”. I suspect the CPB are referring to Smart Border 2.0 (November 2017) by Lars Karlsson which proposed some of the solutions mentioned in the answer.
Smart Border 2.0
As can be easily seen from this section of Smart Border 2.0, the “hard border” solutions which the CPB supports would lead to a “manned border crossing” and increased surveillance of people and vehicles (more than two million heavy goods vehicles per year at the moment) travelling back and forth between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
In a follow up article Mr Karlsson also talked of how GPS/GSM technology would also be needed (alongside ANPR, CCTV etc) as “both sides need to know the exact time when the goods pass the border”.
Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Not surprisingly, the Police Service of Northern Ireland do not support the idea of them having to enforce a hard border as envisaged by the CPB.
New Technology.
As for the “new technology” the CPB believes will make a “structural ‘hard border’ unnecessary”, Katy Hayward wrote “Can technology and ‘max fac’ solve the Irish border question?” (23 May 2018) on how technology proposals (including drones) might work in practice.
Single Market and Customs Union.
One point that the CPB made in its Q&A was that customs posts were dismantled between the UK/Northern Ireland and Ireland in 1993. It neglected to mention how this was possible though. Namely, it was because the UK and Ireland both joined the Single Market that year having already been in a Customs Union (EEC) since 1973. This was covered here where Labour’s Brexit proposals were discussed - “Would staying in a customs union after Brexit avoid a hard border with Ireland?” (Gavin Barrett. Professor at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin. 1 March 2018).
Morning Star.
For the CPB/Morning Star, the real villain who wants a hard border is the EU — “Brussels wants an Irish border” (18 Nov 17). It should be remembered, of course, that the majority of people in Northern Ireland voted Remain and support the backstop.
Then, on 12 September 2019, the Morning Star printed an article by Kevin McCorry (People’s Movement) saying who would really be to blame in the event of a hard border — the Irish, for wanting to (overwhelmingly) stay in the EU.
Effectively this article (and the whole thrust of the CPB/Morning Star/LeFT WTO “People’s Brexit” campaign) is for the British State to impose the hardest of hard Brexits on the Northern Ireland/Ireland border against the wishes of the Remain majority of Northern Ireland and the pro-EU majority of Ireland.
I’m just surprised the CPB haven’t called for a United Ireland under the Crown as a hard border solution but the McCorry piece comes pretty close.
Leave Fight Transform (LeFT)
Tommy McKearney has written a piece, “Brexit and the Future of Ireland” (24 August 2019, which LeFT have been promoting in answer to concerns about a hard border. Mr McKearney describes himself as a socialist republican on his blog and, alongside the Communist Party of Ireland, has helped launch the Peadar O’Donnell Socialist Republican Forum.
He believes that if the UK were to unilaterally not impose tariffs on goods coming from Ireland, this would not mean “infrastructure” on the border. As shown above (Smart Border 2.0), he is mistaken on that point.
If the UK decided to not impose tariffs on goods “going northwards”, under WTO rules, then it could not just apply this just to goods coming from Ireland (see below). Within Northern Ireland (and the rest of the UK), the consequences of unilateral free trade like this to the farming industry would be immense. According to this BBC report (10 Jan 2019) — “Agri-food exports to the EU could face tariffs of 27% on chicken, 46% on lamb and 65% on beef, [Farmers’ Unions] said.”
Alan Beattie dealt with the consequences of the zero-tariff idea here- “More delusions on the Irish border” (Financial Times 27 Nov 17).
Mr McKearney went on to dismiss concerns about “a highly unlikely resumption of armed conflict, export delays and possible traffic jams at border crossings”.
This thread from Seamus Leheny (Policy Manager for the Freight Transport Association) highlights just how disruptive *any* border checks would be. At the moment the average is “1 x lorry every 35 seconds over 24hr period” whereas on the Norway/Sweden border the “average delay for trucks is 10 minutes”. Norway is in the Single Market but not the Customs Union.
As for there being a “resumption of armed conflict”, as the PSNI have already indicated in the article mentioned above their fears about this.
Irish and Northern Irish Trade Unions.
Contrary to what the CPB, Morning Star LeFT and their co-thinkers in the UK and Ireland think, there is not one type of “real Brexit” as the Irish Congress of Trade Unions point out.
Their response to the December 2017 UK /EU Joint Report was “the best and most logical way to avoid a hard border is for the UK as a whole to remain in both the single market and customs union”.
Owen Reidy (Assistant General Secretary) gave one reason for this on Aug 17 — “Clearly any type of border east/west within the UK is unacceptable and creates problems for unionism. Equally any hard border north/south is also unacceptable as it creates problems for nationalism. Therefore, the Irish government must use its strategic influence on this matter to ensure that the EU and the UK seek neither option”
Jimmy Kelly (Unite the Union Ireland Secretary) said this (16 Mar 17) regarding the idea of Northern Ireland operating under the WTO “People’s Brexit” favoured by the CPB.
The Unite Brexit Check report (14 Feb 18) “Campaign to stop hard border heats up at Unite’s Ireland region Brexit conference” gave an example of the cross-border trade which could be disrupted in the event of a No Deal Brexit.
Does it matter what the CPB/Morning Star/LeFT think?
Because the numbers in the CPB are small, it would be a mistake to think that their ideas do not have some influence in the Labour and Trade Union Movement. After all, it was not so long ago that Andrew Murray (one of Jeremy Corbyn’s advisers) was a member. He only left the CPB in 2016 to join Labour and now works part-time there alongside working for Len McCluskey. One point though, I don’t believe Mr Murray backs a WTOBrexit as he was reported as wanting to back Theresa May’s Brexit deal in order to stop a hard Brexit.
I’ll just give a couple of examples of how the CPB (and their sister organisation the Communist Party of Ireland) promote their Brexit ideas with the wider Labour Movement.
Brexit: the view from the Left.
This is a meeting which took place on 20 March 2017. The Chairperson was Therese Moloney who sits on the Unite the Union Executive Committee as one of two Ireland representatives. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to find a report of the meeting to see what Ms Moloney’s views on Brexit are but the speech Eugene McCartan (General Secretary CPI) made can be found here.
People’s Brexit meeting.
This star cast meeting took place last November. As Rob Griffiths (General Secretary CPB) put it -”This Thursday, we have played a central part in bringing together political forces, including some in the Labour Party, on the left and in the trade unions for a public meeting in support of a People’s Brexit.”
There was some press coverage recently (15 Sept 2019) of the speech Paula Barker made in favour of a “People’s Brexit” and to cut ties from the EU “entirely” as she is favourite to become Labour’s PPC in Liverpool Wavertree (which comfortably voted Remain).
LeFT meeting TUC.
A report of this meeting can be read in the Morning Star and Arthur Scargill’s speech can be read here. Mr Scargill was very dismissive about food and medicine shortages except he did talk about the “hundreds of other vital drugs which are now being produced not in the UK but abroad by the pharmaceutical companies”.
Fyi, Liz Payne, Moz Greenshields, Gawain Little and Alex Gordon are all members of the Communist Party of Britain wearing different hats on this occasion. Eddie Dempsey is a member of Labour.
Conclusion.
I hope those of you who have taken the time to read this have found something of interest. My original intention had been to write about the views of the different Lexiter groups but, in the end, I thought it better to concentrate on the CPB as they are the most influential.
I’m a Remainer and I still think that the best situation for us all in the UK and Ireland is that we should stay in the EU. However, I can see that the country (and the main political parties) are very split over this. How can this be resolved? I’m not sure to be honest but at the moment the *only* Brexit I can see which would allow there to be no hard border is Norway Plus where the UK as a whole stays in the Single Market and Customs Union.
Finally, the views of people who live on the Northern Irish border should be at the forefront of all politicians’ minds. These interviews by Peter Oborne remind us all of the horrors people lived through during The Troubles especially the one with Alan Black.
(1) In the CPB’s “The EU and Brexit — Questions and Answers (9 Aug 2019), there is a section dealing with No Deal Brexit and how the UK would operate on WTO terms. It states this here -
“It’s true that leaving the EU with no agreed replacement for current arrangements, or a transition period towards one, could cause significant upheaval and dislocation. for that, the Tory government and the EU would be jointly responsible.”
I don’t see how the CPB would be able to hold its hands up and say “nuffin’ to do with us” in a situation like this since they advocate and promote WTO Brexit with no transition period. Never mind “Cake and Eat It Brexit”, this is “Cake and Eat It Blame Game” where a policy you support will cause “significant upheaval and dislocation” yet you don’t offer an alternative policy to stop the chaos you admit “could”(!) come about.
