While Boris got a nice boost from the weekend’s polling, all is not as rosy for his EU counterparts. Irish support for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s Brexit policy has sharply dropped. Less than half the public now support their leader’s pugnacious approach…

It’s a big fall from January when a poll asking the same question asking the same question found 60% backed Varadkar. This has now fallen by 17 points to 43%, with dissatisfaction rising by the same margin. If Boris’s No Deal threat doesn’t make the Taoiseach buckle, domestic pressure will come to bear ever more strongly…

The Irish commentariat are also increasingly questioning Varadkar’s approach. Over the weekend Business Post columnist Colin Murphy argued the backstop has “been a disaster for Ireland”, Dan O’Brien, Chief Economist at the Institute of International and European Affairs, warns that the “first duty of those who oppose tribalism is to acknowledge the tribalism of one’s own side”, while Eoghan Harris blasts:

“Unless we bin out fraudulent backstop, Boris Johnson will crash out of the EU, leaving our economy in ruins and our relations with England, our nearest neighbour, in rag order”.

Tectonic plates slowly starting to shift…