Re: Leaving EU != leaving Customs Union (or Single Market, for that matter)
Because the EU's opening in negotiations was a bunch of non-negotiables we either agree (aka remain) or we must leave the single market.
Strangely nothing much to do with also leaving ECJ - we were told that wasn't on the agenda either....
What was concerning is the misunderstanding of the 'Irish problem'. The EU wants a hard border, the Irish (both sides) dont.
Well, that's a touchy subject, for the Irish - no one wants a border, partly 'cause one side doesn't believe in partition and memories of the troubles and the hold up of passing through military enplacements complete with observations towers - a lot of these bisected local farmers routes to fields.
Before the enplacements went up, there were a couple of portacabins on each side of the border, hardly an inconvenience of note, but the memory of the military style remains, and judging by the tax paranoia over cigs and french alcohol even when in the EU at English ports, I'd not be surprised of more heavy-handedness over a little contraband than ever was over politics...
Of course leave is blamed - they've rocked the rather fragile status quo - The Good Friday agreement was hammered out by the moderate parties, it'd be few decades or wrangling for the current lot to come to something amicable.
Could be interesting though - cross border nightlife thrived in the 50's & 60's as alcohol was cheap and licencing laws more liberal south of the border (still can see the ruins of dead pubs and nightlife joints at the border), and fuel prices were cheaper south during the 1990's (most tiny towns just inside the republic have more fuel places than seems reasonable).