The farce on Brexit continues.
After touring Britain, Theresa May finally recognised that she had not won over the hard right of her own party and decided to pull the vote on the withdrawal deal.
Now she is facing a vote of confidence as the Tories pull themselves apart.
Only two things stood out in May’s speech announcing that she would stand for leadership of the Tory party.
First, she said that the only thing worse than the present mess was the election of a Corbyn government. This is the one point that all Tories agree on – they fight like dogs over Brexit but they join forces to prevent Corbyn coming to power.
Second, she talked about preserving ‘our precious union’ – by which she meant the links with Scotland and Northern Ireland.
But her own actions will undermine that ‘precious union’.
She had planned to go around Europe to get an ‘assurance’ that the ‘backstop’, which rules out a hard border in Ireland, would only be temporary.
And there are already some indications that EU leaders – including Varadkar – might be willing to give some assurances.
Yet the day before this speech, May was warning her Tory backbenchers that any sign of a hard border could produce a move towards a united Ireland
It is high time that the people of Ireland intervened in this mess, to cut the confusion.
The one sure way that a hard border can be avoided is precisely by ending partition. This is why there should be a democratic option given to the people of this island.
On both the North and South of this island a referendum should be held to see if there is a desire to unite Ireland.
The Irish government should be pressurising the British to hold a border poll. And a similar poll should be held in the South on the same day.
This would send out an important signal that a united Ireland is not be about joining the existing Northern state to the Southern state – but rather about creating a new and better Ireland, forged through a constituent assembly that will draw up a new constitution,
Should that happen, People Before Profit will be arguing for an Ireland that puts the needs of its people above those of corporations and vulture funds.