JUST when we thought it was safe to talk about Brexit, another huge row breaks out. And with a sense of deja-vu, it is about customs in Northern Ireland.

The problem goes back to the 1920s, when Northern Ireland separated from Eire. The agreement allowed for a frictionless border between the two, and this was reinforced by the Good Friday Agreement.

As global rules changed, this would have become an issue had it not been that we were all part of the single market. But coming out of the single market leaves the Irish border anomaly high and dry.

Countries need to secure their customs borders and you need some sort of border to do so. Comply with the rules, you break the century old agreements.

This week, the government has tabled the UK Internal Market Bill. Part of it addresses the as-yet-unresolved problem of how we treat Northern Ireland.

It's fair to say this is a mess. The previous solution was to put up what amounts to a customs border in the Irish Sea, separating NI from Great Britain. But that breaks up the UK.

Some departments have been working on this all year, trying to find a solution. But this proposal comes at a time when we are running the risk of failing to achieve a deal with the EU ahead of our leaving, once and for all, on January 1 next year.

Aside from Northern Ireland, contentious issues include our fishing rights, and the amount the government can subsidise businesses investing in innovative, but commercially risky, technology. But in getting this far, we seem to have abandoned our efforts to secure access into the EU for our world-beating financial services sector.

We need to do some deal or another with the EU. With EU trade being nearly half our total trade, the idea that we will not do a deal is a non-starter. But if we do not do a deal by the end of this year, we may yet start again for a so-called Canada style deal.

Whilst there will, no doubt, be some big arguments, powerful speeches, and media commentary, I suspect this will pass without too much problem.

The support at last year’s election for a pro-Brexit manifesto was very clear – especially here in Wyre Forest. We just need to get it done.