Brexit dominated the news again this week as agreement on the Irish border issue fell through at the last minute. Even if it had gone ahead, it would have been of limited benefit to farmers. As Phelim O’Neill explains on page 18, the amount of trade that takes place across the Irish border is small compared to what takes place across the Irish Sea, from both sides of the border.

Northern Ireland exports more than three times as much to Britain as it does south, so apart from the political issues, a border in the Irish Sea would be even worse than a border on the island of Ireland, bad and all as that would be.

South of the border, the importance of the British market is higher again, with trade six times more than it is with the North.

The outcome with most potential is the one that Scotland, Wales and the City of London put their hands up for, and alluded to by UK Brexit secretary David Davis in parliament, that the entire UK keep regulatory alignment with the EU. This would enable trade continue uninterrupted on a north-south and east-west basis, as has been the case.