MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mishandling Brexit can become a “dangerous game” for Ireland's peace process

The House of Lords is due to debate a report on Brexit later this Tuesday. Lord Hain is expected to address the UK's recent proposals for the border.

Former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Hain is set to accuse the government of playing a dangerous game with the peace process over its handling of Brexit and the border. The House of Lords is due to debate a report on Brexit later this Tuesday. Lord Hain is expected to address the UK's recent proposals for the border.

 He is to say they are “long on good intentions and aspiration, but breath-takingly short on practical detail as to how it will work after Brexit”.

The former Labour secretary of state will say the idea that 80% of cross-border trade can simply be waved through is “pie-in-the-sky fantasy”.

Lord Hain will also argue that the UK government appears to be telling the EU that “as part of the divorce settlement”, it can do what it likes with the Irish border and “if that means a 'hard' border then that will be the EU's fault and not ours”.

He will also criticize what he regards as the government's “dogmatic insistence on taking Britain out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice”, which he thinks could put vital European peace funding at risk.

Lord Hain believes ministers' “worthy aim of saying the UK should remain part of the PEACE Program” cannot be squared with the UK's policy of leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.