The fate of the Irish frontier shows the compromises that Brexit entails — economist.com

NORTHERN IRELAND barely featured in last year’s Brexit referendum campaign, in which Britons were more interested in matters of migration and money. Yet the future of the 500km border that separates the North from the Irish Republic—and which will soon separate the United Kingdom from the European Union—has become one of the trickiest issues of the exit talks. The winding border has revealed a tangle in the “red lines” laid down by Theresa May. After leaving the EU, Britain wants to do its own trade deals with the rest of the world, which means leaving the EU’s customs union. And, like Ireland, it wants to maintain the open, invisible border that was enhanced by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, ending three decades of violence. This presents a problem: having a different customs regime to the EU means imposing customs controls, which in turn implies that the border cannot be quite so seamless as today. Ireland, backed by the EU, has threatened to block any outcome involving a harder border, raising the risk that Britain could end up with no deal at all (see article ).

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