Today was the day of the Plan B vote – here’s the gist of it –

There seem to be three fundamentals to the plan:

• The extension of the implementation period to 2021
• Technological solutions to ensure no border infrastructure requirements on the island of Ireland
• An interim free trade agreement to be tabled immediately

This has been termed a “triple-lock”.

The only problem is – reopening negotiations with the EU is simply not on the table from the EU side. As Matt Frei of Channel 4 news put it, without a backstop there could be the concern that an open access on the island of Ireland would leave it open to British business to trade goods which have come in on low tarrifs from around the world through Ireland and into Mainland Europe for sale to EU customers. Therefore it is out of the question, regardless of the short-term consequences of no deal, for the EU to accede on the Irish question.

While Mairead McGuinness has done a great interview tonight with Channel 4 saying that while last week, everyone was glued to the goings on in Westminster, no-one was watching the live events today. Everyone is over it.

Simply put – it doesn’t actually matter what these guys are saying or doing – it’s still going to be the same outcome (when this interview is available it will be linked). Meanwhile this interview from yesterday sets out the same points – as if with one voice.

One body which was watching however were the currency traders, and the pound plummeted when an Yvette Cooper amendment to request an extension to Article 50 was defeated. Yet still the Eurpean Research Group is sticking to it’s guns and no-deal is more likely than ever tonight.

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The MP’s in Westminster seem to be living in an echo chamber. No matter how much attention is drawn to the realities of their Brexit project, they keep coming back to the same idiotic proposals to “get over” the backstop issue, albeit that they are dressed up in different ways.  It beggars belief watching the flow of these efforts from them that they keep wasting valuable time at this stage in the countdown, failing to grasp the realities of the Irish question. They keep on believing their own bullshit.

Meanwhile the rest of their country are getting to real grips with what the realities of a no-deal Brexit will mean for them. The British Retail Consortium has today written a signed letter to Parliament stating that a no deal will lead to food shortages. The UK depends on the EU for nearly 1/3rd of it’s food – fact. The type of threat this poses to the UK does look like a sort of dystopian nightmare – this letter coming on foot of reports that UK army bases are stock-piling food.  The entire process seems to be a chapter from la la land.

The EU has again tonight ruled out any change to the Backstop, while the Tory MP’s are planning to put forward the “Brady” proposal. Which will never fly. It’s starting to cause us all to glaze over.

The backstop is already a compromise and will not be further compromised – So says Simon Coveney in an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr.

They’re representing Irish interests to the utmost and they are a breath of fresh air compared to the disarray and noise from Westminster.

It is nonetheless petrifying how both sides of the Irish sea are hurtling toward a brick wall.

The talk is of how at the Commons there will be amendments tabled by backbenchers to prevent a “no deal” Brexit. Seems a bit of a waste of time, given that there are only 2 options, the Withdrawal agreement or No deal and one of these has already been flatly rejected by Parliament.

Helen McEntee also appeared on Sophy Ridge’s show this morning – to view, click on the pic below.

Channel 4 also have a short video explaining to the uninitiated how the history of NI is such a big issue.

There’s only one story today –

To listen to the interview click on the pic above

Hard to credit the attitude from the British public service broadcaster. Fair play to her. This has been the single most cool, calm voice of reason since the entire debacle erupted 2 years ago.

The gloves are coming off finally with people like Leo and Simon saying they wish people should stop looking to Dublin to find a solution to Brexit as Ireland is the victim of Brexit.

The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond was equally pragmatic in his Davos comments today supporting the existing Withdrawal Agreement. Meanwhile back in Britain the calls for a second referendum are finely balanced between pro and anti.

Even the British Monarch was wading into the Brexit brawl, calling for unity, a search for common ground and keeping sight of the bigger picture. Her comments have been deemed as “right” [correct] by 68% of a poll of Sky viewers.

And in his first comment to make the Sky news wall since this diary began, Finance minister Paschal Donohoe spoke plainly about how jobs such as those in Barclays bank have come to Ireland, directly as a result of Brexit..  cher-ching $$

A new list of laws which Ireland will need to pass to ensure preparedness for a no deal Brexit was published today by the Government. The pitch of the discussion has become extremely shrill in a short space of time.

In Davos today the “C” word was used to describe what will happen in Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Last year during the “Beast from the East” snow crisis, there was a shortage of bread which shows how prone the population is to panic. There has even been a suggestion of possible stock-piling here.

At the same time in the UK, there are increasing numbers of MP’s rallying around passing amendments to ensure that No Deal is taken off the table. Even though technically this is not possible, there is either the withdrawal agreement or there’s no deal. Also there is a push for an extension to article 50 – also pointless because the EU is not likely to agree to this without something significant on offer such as a second referendum or a general election.

The complexity of all of this is probably lost on most people, therefore the mood in the UK is said to be even more polarised instead of less so which is what we would expect here.

Interviewed at the World Economic Forum at Davos, former British Chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne described the No Deal Brexit which Theresa May is refusing to legislate against as a game of Russian Roulette. He explained that there’s a 1 in 6 chance that you could get a bullet in the head. He also says that a delay is the most likely outcome for now but struggles to explain what will necessitate that or make it even acceptable.

The Irish Government meanwhile has been coming under all sorts of pressure to admit that a hard border will be inevitable under a no deal. This morning on Morning Ireland Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed came under sustained pressure from the interviewer to admit that there would be a hard border – listen here.  I read later today on Sky News that there is a commitment contained within the Good Friday Agreement that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland.

“Why the Irish border is the biggest obstacle to delivering Brexit”  – by Mark Stone.

On top of this type of debacle, there is a suggestion that the hard border could instead be on mainland Europe with customs checks in either Calais or Rotterdam instead of on the island of Ireland.

The question is whether the PM has been very clever in running down the clock to all this chaos, or whether she was just incompetent, laying down unachievable red lines in terms of leaving the customs union as well as leaving the EU, all within too tight a timescale, not gaining cross-party consensus, and completely failing to realise the challenge of the Irish question.

The post of the day though has to go to Beth Rigby of Sky who says that Brexit is more than just a short-term political crisis, it’s an existential one, a thought which had occurred to me already when it’s obvious that both main parties in Britain are split on the subject of Brexit. A sobering thought.

Tariffs, lorry parks, food shortages, truck tail-backs, a hard border in Northern Ireland. A disorderly Brexit would see a National income falling by 8% in the UK and house prices would drop by 30%. The Welsh and Irish Governments are preparing for customs checks talking about the catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit.

The Welsh Govt today scrapped the normal schedule for the assembly in order to spell out the impacts of a no deal Brexit. They were accused of course of scare-mongering by UKIP who said they should the Welsh Government should hang their heads in shame.

In a development of astonishing arrogance – in yet another classic case of “Let them eat cake”, Brexit backing James Dyson has got the word out today “just in time” that his company is again moving jobs and investment away from Britain in favour of Singapore.” He appears to be expecting people to swallow that this decision is nothing to do with Brexit. He is another example of yet another wealthy British business leader who has no shortage of resources himself [and so would have nothing to fear from a Brexit leave vote] but those he would have influenced to vote leave will have everything to fear. Just like Jacob Rees-Mogg who has made a similar move.

“EU Exit Assumptions – NO DEAL”, and marked “Official – Sensitive”.

This leaked Border Force document is also occupying the minds of Britons this week as it grapples with some of the realities which they somehow hadn’t anticipated. And it’s against all of this backdrop that Jeremy Corbyn has finally swung around to propose an amendment allowing parliament to vote on the holding of a 2nd referendum.

The drama continues.

“Are you running down the clock Prime Minister”, rings out the questions from awaiting journalists outside 10 Downing St. every day.

It certainly seems like that – today was the day she had to make a statement about what her plan B was following the defeat of Plan A last week. Incredibly all it contained was more of the same – sounding just a reiteration of the same original deal. No to another referendum, no to a ruling out a “no deal” Brexit, no to revoking article 50.  More flexible, workers rights, more work with the DUP to find a resolution to the backstop. Hard to believe. The Labour leader accuses her of her cross-party talks being a PR sham.

The Polish Foreign Minister decided to break ranks with the EU suggesting a time-limit on the backstop. This was promptly rubbished by Coveney.

Meanwhile a leak of a sensitive assumption of the possible scenarios of cross-channel disruption in an assessment of no deal stated – “The reasonable worst case flow through the Short Straits is reduced to between 13% and 25% of current capacity for a period of between 3-6 months.”

And so the giant poker game continues with the increasingly cavalier Brexiteers holding their country to randsome, facing increasing criticism from British business leaders amongst others. Her dismissal of the Plan B process echoes Thatcher’s out, out, out statement about Northern Ireland in 1984. Someone should tell her this is no time to be emulating her heroine – not when there’s so much at stake. There was even a suggestion today that she was proposing an amendment to the Good Friday Agreement – however that was ruled out by the Irish Government. It’s increasingly obvious how incredibly she had so little idea of how much of a challenge the Irish question would present to the Tories own red lines on Brexit.

In a surprising if not astonishing development, European President Donald Tusk has revealed that David Cameron never expected the Tories would win an overall majority in the 2015 General Election. The incompetence just keeps getting more and more indisputable.

Cameron did not think EU referendum would happen, says Tusk

If a face were to be put on the coldest, most clinical, most ruthless and chilling elements of the Brexit side of the campaign there could hardly be a more suitable choice than the baby-face of the former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab.

On the face of it he has the very appearance of erudite respectability itself – well spoken, well dressed and so earnest in his tone and delivery. Yet this choir-boy image belies a vacuous, soulless determination and focus, bereft of any reason or emotional investment. While Theresa May has been caricatured by the term May-Bot to signify her apparent robotic personality Raab has all the human-like qualities of a military drone.

There could have been a feeling last week that somehow the outlook was starting to improve following May’s commons defeat, followed by her narrow escape from the no confidence vote her government just about won.  That sense has all but evaporated again with both sides doubling down on the rhetoric. The language has degenerated to the extent that there is now reference to some form of political coup by Remainers, with back-benchers angling to wrest power from the Government. The Government on the other side actually warning of some type of imminent danger of not implementing Brexit.

As if all of that wasn’t toe-curling enough, last night saw a chilling reminder of why the EU had worked so hard to sideline all of this type of nationalistic one-upmanship, with the return of the sound of a car-bomb to the streets of Derry. The group responsible for it are calling themselves none other than the “New IRA”. If the Brexiteers somehow hadn’t been aware there were consequences of Brexit for NI, they are now.