Of all the manifold complications of Britain’s departure from the European Union, one that gets comparatively little attention is the absence of any sort of functioning government in Northern Ireland.
Irish issues and how to resolve them are central to negotiations in Brussels. But to corrupt Henry Kissinger’s famous maxim about the EU, the UK government faces a problem: without a Northern Ireland executive, who does it phone to discuss the deal.
This lack of legitimate political and democratic accountability in Ireland at present is compounded by the role the DUP is playing in propping up the Conservative government in Westminster.
Without a forum to formulate a cross-party Northern Irish position on Brexit (if indeed that’s possible) suspicion will grow that the government will create