Post-Brexit opportunities for smugglers and makers of red tape in Northern Ireland

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/22/post-brexit-opportunities-for-smugglers-and-makers-of-red-tape-in-northern-ireland

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Reports that Boris Johnson may get his deal despite the DUP’s refusal (18 October) miss out on the dimension of the loyalist paramilitary response to the deal. There may also be a darker side to this intransigence. Last week Arlene Foster and her senior advisers were reported to have consulted with loyalist paramilitaries, including the UDA and UVF. The UVF has not laid down its arms and is classified in UK law as a terrorist organisation. It is very concerning that the DUP still feels the need to consult loyalist paramilitaries outside of the peace process before making crucial political decisions on support or otherwise for a Brexit decision, affecting the whole of the UK and 27 European countries.Dr Joseph MullenEastbourne, East Sussex

• Your excellent article (Invisible border: How the deal would work, from form-filling to tariffs, 17 October) illuminates the sheer dottiness of the trading arrangements envisaged for Ireland under Boris Johnson’s plans for “Global Britain”.

As an importer and exporter cross-border within the EU, including Ireland, I can only marvel at the opportunities this version of Brexit will provide for paramilitary smugglers and manufacturers of red tape alike.

If the satirist Jonathan Swift – thank heaven for 18th-century Irish wit and wisdom – was witness to the proposed dispensation, he would surely be writing about it.

At what point did the outward-looking “Global Britain” we were promised become a cockamamie protectionist racket? J Gabriel IrwinLondon

• Your article on the complex form-filling processes required for customs declarations after Brexit caused me a wry smile. One of my jobs in HM Customs and Excise in the early 90s was to visit traders to explain how all of those forms would disappear with the single market. Yet now with Brexit, as your article clearly explains, all this bureaucracy is coming back again. It is ironic that the Brexiters who promised us freedom from EU bureaucracy are responsible for this. Presumably their argument is that British bureaucracy is superior to the EU version, regardless of the adverse consequences for British business. Ian ArnottPeterborough

• If Johnson gets his bill through (Johnson in final push to ram through Brexit deal, 22 October), how far back should we set our clocks this weekend? About 180 years would do nicely for the Victorian era, or (given the gig economy) 750 would take us to feudalism.Steve KibbleRudyard, Staffordshire

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