Irish Examiner view: Sunak showing signs of sense

In the face of the ludicrous views expressed by his colleague, Suella Braverman, British prime minister Rishi Sunak is displaying a far more pragmatic approach. File picture

The assertion by British home secretary Suella Braverman that the massive delays encountered at Dover over the weekend by people waiting to travel to France were not caused by Brexit was wildly ludicrous, and rightly ridiculed by the country’s political opposition.

And yesterday, when a spokesman for Number 10 Downing Street was asked directly had Brexit contributed to the chaos at the Channel port and effectively admitted it had, Ms Braverman’s claim that it was due to a combination of bad weather and unusually high traffic volumes was made to look even more pathetic.

The fact that, post-Brexit, cross-Channel travellers from the UK are required to have their passports manually inspected and stamped by the French authorities was at the heart of the weekend delays that saw coaches and trucks delayed for as long as 15 hours, causing the cancellation of many school mid-term continental trips.

However, the intervention by Number 10 in the row also illustrated the more pragmatic approach being taken by prime minister Rishi Sunak to the seemingly endless problems that Britain’s exit from the EU has created for his country.

He has tackled the problems of the Northern Ireland Protocol by signing the Windsor Framework and appears willing — unlike many of his gaslighting ministers — to admit that aspects of Brexit have not worked in Britain’s favour.

Many Conservatives — including Ms Braverman, it would appear — have been terrified to admit in any shape or form that leaving the EU was an error, and their continued denials have only served to make them look silly and completely out of touch with reality.

At least their leader, while still ploughing the Brexit furrow, has adopted a more practical stance.

His refusal to simply deny everything, and his attempts to iron out the everyday problems that Brexit has presented his people and his economy, are signs that there is still some semblance of sense to be found in what has otherwise been shown to be an ideological wasteland.