The Guardian reports this morning that:

The British government has been accused of breaking international law for a second time by the European commission after ministers said the UK would unilaterally act to give Northern Ireland businesses time to adapt to post-Brexit rules.

In a damning statement, MaroÅ¡ Å efčovič, the vice-president of the commission, said a move announced by Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis to exempt goods coming from Great Britain from checks amounted to a “violation” of the withdrawal agreement.

This is pretty serious stuff.

Breaking international law is not something a government should do lightly. Our government does, however, appear indifferent to it. That is, in itself, mightily worrying.

And then there is the fact, not to be ignored, that as yet the EU exit agreement has not been ratified by the EU itself. Quite simply, this is not as yet a done deal. And the EU could, in the light of such provocations, decide to walk away still.

Will it walk away? I doubt it.

Will there be a price to pay for it not doing so? I expect so.

Brexit is by no means over yet.