When Parliament fell to debating various versions of a Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU some of us had no wish to enter binding arrangements with the EU that could continue to prevent us making sovereign decisions for ourselves through elections and Parliamentary votes. I along with 27 other Conservative MPs voted three times against Mrs May’s Withdrawal legislation because it did not restore full Parliamentary sovereignty. We tried to get her to insert a sovereignty override clause to reassure us that in the event of disputes with the EU we could legislate ourselves out of trouble, but she refused. Indeed her advisers said to put in such a clause would render the Agreement void as it undermined the rights of the EU built into it.
When we were asked to support Mr Johnson’s versions of the Agreement we again expressed misgivings about parts of it, particularly over fish and Northern Ireland. The government agreed to insert the all important sovereignty clause. It assured us the parts of the Agreement we did not like would be improved in the Future Trading Agreement, and were by any chance they to still fall short then we would have the ultimate lock of a proper sovereignty clause. It was on that basis the EU Withdrawal Act passed. It is important today to remind people just how comprehensive Clause 38, the sovereignty clause is. It leaves no one in any doubt Parliament is sovereign and can exercise its sovereignty as it wishes, whatever interpretation the EU may place on the ambiguous Withdrawal Agreement.
The immediate issue is VAT in Northern Ireland. I see no clause in the Protocol which says the UK Parliament cannot change taxes in Northern Ireland if it wishes. If government lawyers think there is some issue, then they should furnish the government with the draft clause for the VAT legislation which uses the sovereignty powers in Clause 38 to ensure the removal of VAT from NI transactions as well as GB transactions is legal.
Clause 38 of the Withdrawal Act:
Parliamentary sovereignty
(1)It is recognised that the Parliament of the United Kingdom is sovereign.
(2)In particular, its sovereignty subsists notwithstandingâ
(a)directly applicable or directly effective EU law continuing to be recognised and available in domestic law by virtue of section 1A or 1B of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (savings of existing law for the implementation period),
(b)section 7A of that Act (other directly applicable or directly effective aspects of the withdrawal agreement),
(c)section 7B of that Act (deemed direct applicability or direct effect in relation to the EEA EFTA separation agreement and the Swiss citizens’ rights agreement), and
(d)section 7C of that Act (interpretation of law relating to the withdrawal agreement (other than the implementation period), the EEA EFTA separation agreement and the Swiss citizens’ rights agreement).
(3)Accordingly, nothing in this Act derogates from the sovereignty of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
March 27, 2022
Good morning.
I am reminded of the Molotov â Von Ribbentrop agreement. You know the one ? The one that was supposed to be a âpeace agreementâ between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. It had a number of âsecret clausesâ, one being the partition of Poland. I wonder if there is a similar arrangement with the EU whereby we have secretly agreed cede NI to the EU. They did after all make it plain that that was the price for us wanting to be independent once more.
Just a thought đ
March 27, 2022
Seems to be heading that way. Clearly there is no political will to take serious action on NI hence the resignation of Frost.
March 27, 2022
no political will to deal with immigration either, which will consign this political class to the history books, and history will be very unkind to them
March 27, 2022
is there political will to do anything much?
March 28, 2022
Overtax the populus?
March 27, 2022
Indeed, one could be forgiven for thinking that the government is happy with the NIP. After all it gives the EU significant control over uk affairs.
The civil Serpents love this because it sits nicely with their wish to rejoin.
March 27, 2022
BTW, today wind is supplying 1.3gw for the seventh-day in a row.
How about bringing these stats to the floor of Parliament and ask how doubling the number of windmills will cover our needs when there is no wind.
March 27, 2022
There is no use in having more intermittent energy (and then paying the windfarms not to generate), when there isn’t suitable energy storage systems in place.
Liquefying air which can subsequently evaporate to drive gas turbines looks a good way of doing this, although a large proportion of energy is lost in the cycle. Still, better than battery storage, where the charge/discharge cycle depreciates the battery far more expensively than the energy recycled is worth.
March 27, 2022
Or we could use fossil fuels…ALL problems sovled
March 27, 2022
The governments own advisers are saying that Kwartang is either deluded or patently stupid if he actually believes more windmills are the solution
Today’s telegraph features energy security is anyone in power actually reading this stuff.
Even the Atorney General says article 16 should be triggered. What’s going on in the seat of government.
March 27, 2022
Depends but say 55%-70% some say higher to 80% co-locating near a plant with waste heat,waste cold. All plants could then be ran more efficiently & evenly using this technology to help demand meet supply.
So curtailment would then become a non-issue. Indeed it would be an opportunity for co-location, competing with say H2 production.
All reducing imports. With a competitive LCOE.
If only the government had not mandated the destruction of perfectly good coal/gas plant prior to the capacity being developed. We could have used these to smooth fuel price shocks in the interim period, by ramping coal and internal gas supplies.
But all the UK government do is create dependence and undermine self-dependence.
This is just the energy strand of this long term strategy.
Perhaps we need a super tax on billionaires and maybe even some RICO type investigations on the undermining of democracy.
March 27, 2022
Also at the same time point out that electric cars save no net CO2 (after the construction of battery and car plus charging are allowed for), cost about five times more per mile to run than keeping your old car, are mainly charged and built using lots of fossil fuels. Plus raise little or no tax or congestion/ULEZ. charges for Boris/Sunak/Sadiq Khan to waste either (unlike the keep your old car option which is circa 50% tax).
Plus they are inferior cars on range, charge/refill times, cost, flexibility and ability to tow. They are surely only being pushed to prevent all the poorer people from using a car?
March 27, 2022
Ian
An economically and culturally confused West.
No wonder Putin saw this as his moment.
March 27, 2022
Very strange remark. The NIP was front and central of the oven ready deal that British voters welcomed at the last General Eelection. Are you saying Boris should ditch his number one manifesto promise?
March 27, 2022
You carry on with these ridiculous comparisons while Ukraine experiences the reality of disrespect for its sovereignty. Those magnificent people are fighting for ALL of us.
Still, so did your lamentable PM.
You’re all like some prima donna, bewailing a fireman’s ruffling her coiffure, as he tries to carry her from a blazing building.
It’d be funny if it weren’t so pitiful.
March 27, 2022
Hope you have a basement to shelter when Putin targets Nottingham.
March 27, 2022
NLH
Ukraine is the nutty ex girl friend of the psycho across the road that NATO and the EU tried to seduce in order to get to the contents of her jewellery box.
We were warned time and time again that this was a bad move and would lead to war.
Ukraine could have existed intact, with all her people alive and well and prosperous.
They even had McDonald’s and rock stars playing arenas there. A good standard of living. All gone. Lots of dead, millions displaced… as with ALL NATO regime changes that have been tried since the year 2000.
March 27, 2022
This is from April 2014:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/russia-ukraine-war-kiev-conflict
“The threat of war in Ukraine is growing. As the unelected government in Kiev declares itself unable to control the rebellion in the country’s east, John Kerry brands Russia a rogue state. The US and the European Union step up sanctions against the Kremlin, accusing it of destabilising Ukraine. The White House is reported to be set on a new cold war policy with the aim of turning Russia into a “pariah state”.
That might be more explicable if what is going on in eastern Ukraine now were not the mirror image of what took place in Kiev a couple of months ago. Then, it was armed protesters in Maidan Square seizing government buildings and demanding a change of government and constitution. US and European leaders championed the “masked militants” and denounced the elected government for its crackdown, just as they now back the unelected government’s use of force against rebels occupying police stations and town halls in cities such as Slavyansk and Donetsk.”
Following on the triumph of the February 2014 regime change in Kiev, which has now given the world a new saint to revere, Saint Volodymyr, like Saint Patrick according to Bono, who has been de facto elevated to the role of Field Marshal Zelensky, Commander-in-Chief of NEFU, the NATO Expeditionary Force in Ukraine – a force so far made up exclusively of Ukrainian units – it seemed that senior US politicians wanted to move on to regime change in Moscow. But, no, that was all a misunderstanding, the White House has now made it perfectly clear that when President Biden said that Putin “cannot remain in power” he was definitely not calling for regime change.
March 27, 2022
much of the rest of the world wants regime change – -oh except China, India, N.Korea, Germany..
March 27, 2022
Ukraine has had two elections since then.
Zelenskiy took 73% of the vote last time, judged by observers to be reasonably free and fair.
March 27, 2022
NLH
The elections since the 2014 election have not been taken by a complete Ukraine. Do you really not get that ???
March 29, 2022
No, and the turnout for the Leave vote was only 71% giving 37% 0f the electorate who voted for it too, NLA, far from a complete UK, but I accept the dismal result.
March 27, 2022
Err? You missed SJR ‘s insight due to things going over your head . I thought it extremely poignant at this juncture in our sovereign history with tricky EU and any negotiations with the even more tricky Putin for Ukraine sovereignty too. This is not about self as your own Nlh label reveals.
March 27, 2022
You’re among those who regularly polish their left-wing credentials on this website, lad, so it’s strange to see you lining up in support of Kiev’s army. You think they’re fighting for all of us? Certainly not for me. I’ll tell you two of the things they’re fighting for:- the right of ultra-nationalist extremists to hold their 1930s-style parades, and the right of the regime to stop east Ukrainian people speaking the language (Russian) they were born into. I’m sure if Martin in Cardiff were still commenting on this site, he would have views on oppressing a minority language, which your friends in Kiev don’t seem to share.
March 27, 2022
Alternatively a sub-agreement to rejoin. It will happen anyway under Starmer, with or without NI.
March 27, 2022
It would require the unanimous consent of the twenty-seven.
It won’t happen in the foreseeable, and that’s no bad thing for the European Union.
March 27, 2022
No bad thing for the EU? To have a member that makes massive contributions yet has a massive balance of trade deficit – primarily with Germany, France, Holland, Italy and Spain. On the contrary – us being a member would be a great thing for the EU. No say and a civil service determined to cross every i and sit every t to make sure we, alone, complied with all the rules like good, servile boys.
March 27, 2022
Over-emotional / exaggerated stuff like this makes Brexit look ridiculous.
46% of people in Northern Ireland want to be part of Ireland. 0% of Poles wanted to be part of Soviet Union.
But more ridiculous is to compare anyone involved in EU / Brexit row with the Nazis who murdered millions of people in the Holocaust.
I support Sovereignty, Brexit and N. Ireland remaining British but I don’t support a fanatical obsession with EU / Brexit either. Especially when there’s a war going on in Ukraine, defending itself from a brutal dictatorship.
March 27, 2022
Apologies, it’s 41% not 46% want to become part of Republic of Ireland.
March 27, 2022
You make the same point as me in fine words, Ed.
March 27, 2022
Sovereignty is like a beautiful, s-xy, mysterious woman. She wants to be valued and desired but she doesn’t want to be put on a pedestal!
March 27, 2022
(And those who fail to be seduced by the Beauty of Sovereignty and Patriotism are just as bad – I’m talking here about Patriotism NOT Nationalism.)
March 27, 2022
The government will do nothing on Northern Ireland, other than make excuses.
Meanwhile, Johnson hopes that Ukraine will help boost his image and help repair the damage from Party gate. He has got to go, as soon as possible.
March 27, 2022
Exactly.
So just 28 Conservative MPs voted against the appalling Theresa May proposed sell out to the EU. What an appalling and depressing reflection on the fake Conservative Party. Thank goodness we did not get that appalling deal rammed down the people’s throats by May. But then this appalling woman went on to give us the insanity of Net Zero – nodded through by MPs without even a vote. The Boris Deal is alas fairly appalling too.
It seems we will shortly get the full report on the dreadful maternity care given in Telford but actually by much of our dire NHS (Commissioned in 2016 so only 6 years so far). It has killed and maimed for life so many babies and mothers.
May’s and all those scientifically illiterate MPs who nodded Net Zero through will however kill hundreds of times more, destroy the UK economy and (what little is left of) the Conservative Party’s relative reputation for economic competence.
March 27, 2022
Depressingly I listened to a recent Choppers Politics Podcast with Tony Danker now D/G of the CBI. The foolish man came out with almost as much green and economic lunacy as the MP for Brighton Pavilion or Lord Debden/Gummer. None of these people needless to say seem to have any understanding of energy, engineering, science or climate. But then I assume loads of CBI members are getting fat on farming the government’s insane green crap grants for this bogus and fraudulent alarmist exaggeration.
March 27, 2022
The CBI attends the WEF “Elite “boondoggle at Davos where they develop their plans for the peasants to own nothing and them to own everything.
March 27, 2022
Answer to ‘Donna’:
You will note the exact wording of the ‘own nothing; mantra. ‘You will own nothing and you will be happy’. What they mean is that we will own nothing and they will be happy.
JF
March 27, 2022
it was meant to be âYou will own nothing and you will be happy, or elseâ
March 27, 2022
Lifelogic : âBut then I assume loads of CBI members are getting fat on farming the governmentâs insane green crap grants for this bogus and fraudulent alarmist exaggeration.â
Indeed.
Never forget that the CBI refuses to publish a list of members or how they are funded.
So we have no idea how âBritishâ they really are, if at all.
They are always asking the Government to âclarifyâ their position on Net Zero, where âclarifyâ is a euphemism for âwhen are we getting the subsidies and how much will they be?â
If going Green was as cheap as claimed, why are subsidies needed at all?
March 27, 2022
Exactly.
March 27, 2022
So far there have been 3 noticeable effects of Brexit: 1) a marked souring of relations with certain friendly allied countries, in particular France and Ireland; 2) significant frictions on the Irish border, albeit clearly caused deliberately by the current Irish govt and the EU; 3) a marked deterioration in trade in goods with the EU, and some additional frictions and restrictions on travel. Again, probably exacerbated deliberately.
Set against that, happily the project fear forecasts of economic collapse have been proven to be nonsense. Our trade deals with non-EU countries are all rolled over and there are some new ones (though it will be years before they get implemented properly). We are no longer sending ÂŁ12bn pa net to the EU.
So by all means letâs have another fight over VAT in NI if we think the law is on our side, and we think it is worthwhile. (the EU will presumably say you can pass whatever laws you like but we go to court if you breach an agreement. Letâs see where that takes us).
But if I was a Brexit supporting Conservative MP I would be be feeling a very great deal of pressure indeed to get the govt to deliver some of the upsides of Brexit claimed by the leave campaign. At least make a start. Blue passports and crowns on pints wonât be enough. If this isnât possible with Boris Johnson then I suggest you get someone else.
If by the next election thereâs little to show for Brexit but still the main problems with it, there will be a strong argument for re-joining the EEA. Starmer if he has any sense will be onto this and will put it in his manifesto, so a referendum isnât needed.
Reply VAT cuts are some of the wins!
March 27, 2022
Your second para gets to the nub; the EU WILL take us to court over every small or large infringement of the NIP, because the court is the ECJ.
It is hard to believe the big brains in government signed an agreement that specifies the ECJ as the final arbiter of disputes, any disputes, between us, but there it is. We’re going to be paying fines to the EU for so long as we recognise the ECJ.
March 27, 2022
I find the notion of a “friendly” Ireland and France somewhat amusing.
When I was a young accountant working in London, the Irish Army missed killing me by minutes on three occasions. The notion of a “friendly” France needs no comment from me.
March 27, 2022
Agreed Mr Millar, also note the van bomb attack on Coveny , the âloyalistsâ will not go quietly.
Now it the time to dump all eu interference in all things British. We need a strong PM in Westminster!
March 27, 2022
Your measure of friendly and unfriendly ought to be calibrated by what is happening to Ukraine at the hands of Putin.
I doubt that it will be, however.
March 27, 2022
Poke a wasp’s nest and then blame the wasp.
March 27, 2022
I agree that Putin is a bad guy.
What was that to do with us ?
The 1975 did NOT give a mandate to make Ukraine OUR back yard.
March 27, 2022
John. I would never set foot in Ireland again after spending one hellish week there. I don’t buy Irish produce either. As for France…..better not go there.
March 27, 2022
How did they know that it was you?
March 27, 2022
Unfair. That was not the Irish army it was the IRA. The Irish security forces, govts and courts were resolute in their opposition to IRA terrorism.
France has been an ally continuously since the entente cordiale of 1904 and really since the Crimean War.
March 27, 2022
Richard
Not unfair at all. If you had our experience you wouldn’t go back either. I speak as I find and I don’t find the French that friendly or their attitude towards us. Not unfair in my book.
March 27, 2022
Some countries in the EU have been supplying military equipment to Russia. Perhaps you should research who? Source facts4eu.
March 27, 2022
Yes. But much more of a sense of direction is needed. By the election there need to be real tangible benefits to point to that outweigh the downsides.
March 27, 2022
How many true Brexit supporting Conservative MP are there? Only 28 or so voted against the May sell out deal. Is Boris really a Brexit man in reality. He certainly is no longer a real Conservative nor rational on Net Zero, Climate Alarmism or the sensible sizes of taxation & government.
They keep claiming they got the big things right but they most certainly did not. The absurdly extended lockdown did far more harm than good, vaccinating the children likewise, shutting down schools likewise, the failure to keep the NHS running will kill many thousands of cancer and other patients, dumping the infected into care homes surely criminal, masks they got right initially but then changed their minds & got wrong.
Even the claims made for vaccines effectivity in the older population (70%-90% initially claimed) are starting to look very hollow too if you study the statistics.
March 27, 2022
+1
March 27, 2022
+1. LL
Lockdowns. Do not work.
Masks. Do not work. (a symbol of state control).
‘Vaccines’. Do not work. Failed gene therapy.
(Follow the money).
March 27, 2022
‘How many true Brexit supporting Conservative MP are there?’
Do you seriously think you will EVER get an answer to that?
March 27, 2022
If I was a Conservative MP I would be most concerned that thanks to the UK government’s clumsy handling of Brexit we are seeing the resurgence of communal violence in Northern Ireland.
https://www.irishnews.com/epaper/newsstand/repository/newsstand.php
Not thanks to Brexit per se, as some people like to pretend, but thanks to the increasingly clumsy handling of Brexit by two Prime Ministers, first Theresa May and then Boris Johnson. I should also mention the role of George Osborne and the Treasury in greatly exaggerating the economic cost of leaving the EU without any special trade deal, which is what we should have done once the EU and the Irish government started issuing threats at the end of 2017. From November 26 2017:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/11/26/the-irish-border-with-northern-ireland/#comment-903216
“On the TV this morning it was stated that the UK government is âdesperateâ to move on to trade talks, but this would be vetoed by the Irish government unless the UK government committed to keeping the UK in both the Single Market and the Customs Union … So we should now say that rather than kowtow to the stupid destructive intransigence of the EU we will fall back on WTO trade rules and only seek agreements on the practical or technical aspects of continuing trade.”
March 27, 2022
R1 and reply: express.co.uk, 23/03/2022, âThanks to Brexit: Sunak announces green VAT cut âabolishing all red tape imposed by EUâ.
March 27, 2022
This is gibberish (and you know it). A country cannot impose its interpretation of an international Treaty on the other party to that Treaty. Your section 38 is meaningless – all it means is that the UK Parliament can pass laws which bind the UK (which has always been true, you don’t need section 38 for that), but those laws do not bind the EU. So the meaning of the Withdrawal Agreement will be decided by the processes in it (mainly arbitration, some role for the ECJ as far as Northern Ireland is concerned), not by the UK Parliamnent – the UK Parliament freely accepted those limits on its own role when it approved the Withdrawal Agreement (which, let’s remember, you and every other Conservative MP voted for in the Commons back in January 2020)
Reply No, we voted for Clause 38 as an express override of EU attempts to subvert our independence. That was the whole point of C 38.
March 27, 2022
You seem to have misunderstood Clause 38.
March 27, 2022
@ Gary Megson “A country cannot impose its interpretation of an international Treaty on the other party to that Treaty” – unless you count Versailles for one of course.
Your comment is gibberish (and you ought to know it).
March 27, 2022
It doesn’t matter whether clause 38 is there or not. A sovereign nation can break agreements and treaties, and there is no law that can bind it.
When the sovereign nation wants to break treaties it has to consider the effect on its reputation and of reciprocal action. Better not to sign a bad deal in the first place than try to patch it up afterwards.
Reply The point is we only conditionally consented to an otherwise one sided Agreement and expressly provided for unilateral modification.
March 27, 2022
What will the ECJ think of that argument?
I know some real lawyers if you can’t find any in government….
March 27, 2022
Vat cuts are not in themselves a win, particularly if the EU simply emulates them.
March 27, 2022
Perhaps the EU instigated them. Allowing us to “front run” them. It enables Boris to pretend.
March 27, 2022
You see no clause in the Protocol? I suggest you look harder. Article 8 makes it clear, Northern Ireland has to follow EU VAT rules. So what you suggest is a total non-starter
Reply The Article also respects tge U.K. internal market which has different VAt to the Republic. The Republic can require VAT charges on NI goods going to the Republic.
March 27, 2022
You seem to be fussing over the arrangement of marigolds in your little herbaceous border as the forest fire approaches, if I might say so.
March 27, 2022
How depressing! Democracy in tatters, trust in politics in tatters, truth in tatters, history and common sense in tatters (or ‘cancelled’), and so many UK politicians who can’t even be bothered to bat for the UK and it’s people. The loonies and the UK haters are winning!
March 27, 2022
The reason this problem persists is because the government is led by someone who lacks a coherent vision and set of core beliefs and that wonât change. That is borne out by the fact of him entrusting this matter to a minister who voted Remain in the EU referendum. Heâs had ample opportunity to instruct the minister to simply get on with restoring Northern Ireland sovereignty and he wonât do it.
March 27, 2022
VAT cuts are not a benefit of Brexit – this a fiction! Ireland has zero rated sanitary products and a property in France pays 10% on a kitchen refurbishment. Why do you continue to push these untruths about VAT.
March 27, 2022
There would have been no brexit without such continual conduct.
March 27, 2022
https://www.irishnews.com/opinion/columnists/2022/03/26/news/newton-emerson-vat-cut-heralds-another-protocol-problem-for-dup-2624152/
“Interestingly, VAT can be cut below EU levels in Northern Ireland without consultation if the Republic has negotiated identical reductions through an EU exemption mechanism. âInteresting’ is relative here, obviously. This was how women’s sanitary products were zero-rated for VAT across the UK in January.
So which is worse for the DUP? That London has to beg Brussels for a decision, or that it does not have to beg if Dublin has decided already?”
March 27, 2022
It has been reported that May – the worst negotiator in UK history – is in the running for the Secretary-General job at NATO. Pleasingly, it looks like the French will veto her, just for being English.
March 27, 2022
If May’s arrangement had passed then Sir John and Denis would not be having all these frettings – oh, what would they have done with their time?
No, that dour accolade surely goes to Frost.
March 27, 2022
Do you really think either of us would have been happy with Theresa May’s rubbish Brexit In Name Only? Not so, not for the whole of the UK as she wanted, nor just for Northern Ireland as Boris Johnson negotiated. She started well enough with “Brexit means Brexit” but when she changed that to “Brexit means Brexit in Name Only”, or possibly “Brexit means No Brexit” she had to go and thereby she lumbered us with him.
March 27, 2022
She might as well have said “Fnuurghh means fnuurghh” since brexit was never defined.
The only workable solution for the UK, that is, continuing SM and CU membership, would have been wonderful, since it would have proven conclusively what a waste of time Cameron’s silly election-gimmick referendum was.
The fact that an ever-more-desperate group of Leave fanatics are still trying to deny that simple fact is plainly comical.
March 28, 2022
Defaulting to the terms of the existing WTO treaties would have been perfectly workable for our trade with the continuing EU, just as it already is for our trade with much of the rest of the world including the US. It would have had a marginal and temporary economic cost – the EU estimates about 3% of GDP, but very likely that is an overestimate and it would have been below 2% gross – but it would have meant that we would not have needed to ask the EU for anything new, for any treaty provision to which it had not already agreed.
March 27, 2022
Sea W. I can think if a whole lot of other reasons to veto her. Her dishonesty and untrustworthy behaviour for a start.
March 27, 2022
bad enough in an MP – but in a PM !!
March 27, 2022
That sounds insane. Until you realise that it follows US policy for the UK to be subsumed in the EU.
Was it not EU and NATO read US policy to extend its influence which precipitated the recent war?
Democracy. This is not.
March 29, 2022
Russia have just said that they have in principle no objections to Ukraine’s joining the European Union, only military alliances, according to the FT.
March 27, 2022
Sea Warrior
NATO is a defence alliance. May could not even defend her own country!!! How utterly absurd.
March 27, 2022
Treasury Officials out of control as ever? Sunak is just a cypher?
March 27, 2022
You need to replace Johnson with someone prepared to get Brexit done, to abandon net zero and to enact measures to improve national energy and food security.
March 27, 2022
This will never happen as the candidate selection process has ensured that the Conservative Party has been filled with weak-willed sheep over the last twenty years. Until it is down to members to select the leader we will never elect someone who is strong-willed and puts this country above the Globalist’s agenda.
March 27, 2022
+ 1,000,000
March 27, 2022
Indeed, Gary, the UK Parliament can vote for whatever it likes in any wording, which represents any interpretation of any international treaty, but until such time as it changes its mind it only binds this jurisdiction.
It does not, in any way, affect that treaty, and the other party or parties to it continue to have their interpretations.
If either side are silly in that regard then it will lead to disputes, and typically petty-minded ones in the scheme of things, as we see daily on these pages.
March 27, 2022
Sorry but you are toothless here. Just as you fought for years to get a referendum, then to win it, you will fight for even longer to implement the result. It’s the will of the Establishment which counts, not the elected Members of Parliament. Whether you yet need to fight a Starmer/Davy rejoin coalition (will of the people after 2024, didn’t you know?) or fight to keep NI is a mute choice. As you say it could have all been prevented by May, then Frost/Johnson, but somehow hasn’t been.
Far more conspiracy than cock-up.
March 27, 2022
The government is frit, is it not?!
March 27, 2022
It appears you are saying our compliance is entirely voluntary Sir John.
80 seat majority shmajority!
March 27, 2022
We don’t have a Prime Minister and Government with the cojones to stand up for the UK. They don’t want to annoy the EU, or Biden and that’s far more important to them than the integrity of the UK.
Meanwhile, Johnson is busily poncing around on the world stage, playing war leader and shovelling our money at Ukraine.
Truss says that the EU are our friends and we have a lot in common with them, ignoring the evidence of the past 5 years.
Sunak is destroying what’s left of the economy.
And Patel has just thrown ÂŁ10 billion at the Belgians to help them reduce the number of illegal migrants coming from that coastline. That’s after the ÂŁ50 billion+ thrown at the French for the same purpose. She’s obviously never learned Kipling’s poem:
“And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.”
Why on earth should France or Belgium stop the dinghies, when the British Government keeps shovelling money at them all the time they fail?
Changing the Human Rights Act and returning them whence they came (France and Belgium) would cost little. And neither would removing Legal Aid for illegal migrants who pitch up here with no documentation.
March 27, 2022
Kipling’s poem is unwittingly bitterly ironic, given what the British Empire did to so many countries.
March 27, 2022
The best way to stop the dinghies is to remove the pull factor, as the Australians did, rather than expect France and Belgium to act as some sort of goalkeeper. If we stop giving them the outcome they want they will stop coming. Apply a fast-track triage to respect their ‘right to claim asylum’ (No credible claim, credible claim, accepted claim) with no ‘appeals’ allowed for the first category, and then make things tough for those in the first category who refuse to go home.
March 27, 2022
beresford
Well said.
No legal proof of identity and country of origin ……NO ENTRY
March 27, 2022
+1
March 27, 2022
Donna. I agree but then being able to confiscate their phones would have made it easier to identify where they cane from and send them back. Of course this has not been allowed because of their human rites. Pathetic.
March 27, 2022
F U S
Do like your thought process. So simple and practical. Hopefully the HS reads this blog. Must be done purely on security grounds.
Just like the Ukrainian soldiers reported to be ringing the dead soldiers home number on their mobiles telling them to come and collect their loved ones.
March 27, 2022
If you mean Russian soldiers, that’s unlikely, Turbo, as their personal phones are reportedly handed in to their base before they go into combat. It appears on the Ukrainian side soldiers keep their phones, though, which is why it’s always knocked-out Russian tanks that we’re seeing on mobile phone pictures, not Ukrainian ones.
March 27, 2022
Easy to identify people.
There is no will to do this.
March 27, 2022
Donna
Excellent
March 27, 2022
The so called problem if there is one, is very simple to resolve, act in our own interests within the UK, legislate for Northern Ireland, and wait for the EU to challenge it.
If you are correct the EU will fail.
This has all arisen because not sufficient members of parliament wanted to leave the EU in the first place, so simple and plain language was never used in the so called agreement, which really is a complicated mess of long meaningless words and statements.
The simple solution and the one that was on the ballot sheet was simply to leave, then once we had left, then negotiate trade etc if it was felt necessary.
Unfortunately we are now where we are, so politicians have to test the complicated fudge.
March 27, 2022
Alan Jutson
Good post mate and for me it throws up the question:
Who is there with the ability and credibility to take this mess for what it is and sort it? I can’t think of too many.
March 27, 2022
Turboterrier
Sadly I have the feeling we will eventually have to leave again, but properly next time, simply to get the benefits that which were promised the first time, to be a Sovereign Nation in our own right, and to be in complete control over our own affairs, borders and laws.
Unfortunately I believe that will have to happen eventually, because of the complete and utter cock up and gigantic fudge of an agreement made at our first leaving attempt.
This time let us hope the well known kiss phrase of “Keep it Simple Stupid: will apply.
March 27, 2022
A.J. and Turboterrier, +1, a good exchange of good sense, thank you.
March 27, 2022
we could start with the first one you thought of?
March 27, 2022
An excellent addition to the treaty – So why is HMG so afraid to make full use of it?
When is HMG going to stand up as a sovereign nation and show the world we have thrown off the shackles of the EU?
There are clearly machinations at work either in government, the civil service, or both that prevents us leaving the EU behind. Time for Boris to get BREXIT done, completely, and that means asserting our right not to be bullied.
March 27, 2022
How can the EU say cutting VAT on electricity in N.I. affects their single market when you cannot carry electricity over the border?
March 27, 2022
The nudge unit seems to have succeeded , reading your comment NLH.
March 27, 2022
It is hard to believe just how poorly we were served by the Conservative party when they fobbed us off with May as PM. She failed to keep us firmly tied to the EU with the W/A but did at least, no, more damage with Net Zero.
Now we have Johnson who has the power to act on our behalf and deal effectively with the EU over NI Protocol, but will not, or Net Zero.
The sooner the Con. Party is replaced the better.
March 27, 2022
BOF,
Agreed.
March 27, 2022
It is so depressing the number of commenters who bitterly regret leaving the EU who also want a change of government which are mutually incompatible things!
March 27, 2022
Below is a letter that I have sent to our local newspaper, the Maidenhead Advertiser.
I would much prefer this to be properly finished so that I could do as Gavin Ames and Hugh Lansley wanted over two years ago, but the obstacle to that is the Tory party, or to be more exact the Tory MPs who are not forcing Boris Johnson to risk his precious trade deal with the EU to get the UK whole again.
It would be a risk, and he had a nasty shock over it last November:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/02/18/brexit-wins/#comment-1300592
although when it came down to it the EU might decide it would be better for them as well as us if to just amend the deal to remove the objectionable parts of the Irish protocol.
“Dear Sir
In February 2020 two of your correspondents told me that the time had come for me to give over writing letters about the EU.
(Viewpoint, February 6 2020, Gavin Ames, “Brexit is done – time for a new discussion”; February 13 2020, Hugh Lansley, “Time to put debate over Brexit to bed”)
In my response I pointed out that while the UK had indeed left the EU we still remained subject to swathes of EU laws thanks to an oxymoronic ‘status quo’ transition period during which nothing would change, and it was unclear when, or even if, that period would end.
(Viewpoint, February 13 2020, “Don’t keep UK in transition legal limbo”)
However I did not imagine that more than two years later I would see the Chancellor of the Exchequer on his feet in the House of Commons announcing a beneficial tax change, but with the caveat that thanks to the Irish protocol it would not apply in Northern Ireland.
While behind him sat the Prime Minister who had negotiated that damaging protocol to his near worthless EU trade treaty, who must now plead with the EU to allow an exception to their VAT rules – unlikely to happen – trying to pretend that somehow it was not his fault.
Why did he get us into this fix? Because he was desperate to get his deal, however little it was worth, and he was prepared to sell out Northern Ireland to get it; and equally he will not want to lose it now by invoking Article 16 of the protocol to suspend its operation.
As for the true economic value of his trade deal to the UK, I have now asked five government departments and I still await a substantive answer; so it may be sensible to accept the EU Commission’s plausible estimate that it is worth a paltry 0.75 percent of UK GDP.
Yours etc”
March 27, 2022
do your letters get published, just asking?
March 28, 2022
To the Maidenhead Advertiser, almost always. That is what those two were complaining about, telling me that I could and should stop. To other outlets, sometimes. Here is one in the Irish Times last week which it should not have been necessary to write, and probably would not have been necessary to write if the UK government actually cared what lies people in Ireland were being told about its policies and issued its own corrections. Last December I sent an email to the Home Office, copied to Priti Patel’s constituency email address, pointing out that its ETA proposals were being grossly misrepresented in the Irish media but while they replied to me they did not reply to the Irish media.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/crossing-the-border-1.4836243
“Sir, â I am sure I am not alone in wondering why Simon Coveney is making such a huge fuss about the introduction of certain formalities for non-Irish persons who plan to cross the Border. According to his departmentâs website: âUnder the Common Travel Area (CTA), Irish and British citizens move freely and reside in either jurisdiction and enjoy associated rights and entitlements including access to employment, healthcare, education, social benefits, and the right to vote in certain elections.â So clearly there can be other arrangements for persons who are not Irish or British citizens without that infringing either the letter or the spirit of the agreement. Rather than voicing ill-founded objections to the principle, Mr Coveney would do better to calmly suggest ways in which the system can be made to work as smoothly as possible. It has already been said that the UK authorities will not be carrying out any routine checks at the actual border, and so nobody will be stopped and asked to produce papers; but there are reasonable questions about the ease of obtaining a waiver, and the period for which it will be valid. â Yours, etc”
March 27, 2022
Last night I had an epiphany I had a dream I had a wish about the future of the conservative government
I keep thinking of a Tory leader and government before David CameronâŠ.its never going to happen, the majority of Tory MPs agree with everything that has happened over the last decade, theyâre happy with the policies of NI, tax and net-zero
Iâd been hoping that the party would have their own epiphany, and revert its policiesâŠbut they wont as theyâre happy with the new paradigm and its me who is out of sync â my only future is the reform party
March 27, 2022
Glen cullen
Don’t think you are going to be lonely mate the road could be very busy with all those perceived to be out of sync.
March 27, 2022
And here is a letter that I have sent to all Tory MPs:
“Below is a letter sent to our local newspaper, the Maidenhead Advertiser, on July 1 2018, and copied directly to Theresa May. If she had gone along that general line we would not now be seeing the first signs of a resurgence of communal violence in Northern Ireland. Sadly she preferred to listen to what the CBI, replete with Tory party donors, demanded. And her successor has made matters much worse for the sake of his pathetic “Canada style” trade deal with the EU, worth somewhere between zero and 2% of GDP, not the 30% of GDP he has implied.
From: Denis Cooper
Sent: 01 July 2018 15:58
To: sharkeyj@parliament.uk ; Mrs Theresa May Prime Minister
Subject: Fw: Letter to the Editor – “A Letter for Leo”
From: Denis Cooper
Sent: 01 July 2018 15:56
To: martint@baylismedia.co.uk
Subject: Letter to the Editor – “A Letter for Leo”
Dear Sir
Clearly our Prime Minister is still confounded by the mountain that the EU has made out of a molehill on the Irish border.
So to help her, and all of us, I have drafted the following note for her to send to the Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar:
âDear Leo
Just to confirm that we do not intend to make any changes at all at the border.
We have let goods in across that border without any checks for a quarter of a century now, and we will not suddenly start checking them just because we have left the EU.
We presume they will continue to conform to EU rules, and so will be of an acceptable standard.
We hope we will not have to collect any import duties, but if we do we will be sure to do it well away from the border.
So we will not be building any customs posts, or other new infrastructure, or indeed making any other changes at all, on our side of the border. Of course it is up to you what you do on your side.
However to reassure you and your EU colleagues that we will never knowingly allow this border to be used as a back door for contraband goods to enter the EU Single Market we will pass strong laws to prevent such goods being exported across the border.
Any haulier who is found to have carried across goods which the EU deems unacceptable will be liable to loss of his haulage permit, and potentially criminal as well as civil penalties.
I hope this meets with your approval.
With my very best wishes
Theresa.â
Yours etc”
March 27, 2022
Denis. Mrs May proposed this. The EU said no. End of story. Don’t you understand that an agreement needs two sides to agree? You are helping no one by just rehashing arguments that have got nowhere over the last 5 years
March 27, 2022
Read what Lord Lillie has to say:
https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2022/02/peter-lilley-the-protocol-mutual-enforcement-of-the-law-can-ensure-goods-are-eu-uk-compliant-without-border-checks.html
“… In principle, reciprocity would be desirable. That is, the EU/Republic of Ireland should likewise make it an offense to export goods into Northern Ireland which do not comply with UK regulations and standards. But reciprocity is not essential … ”
Of course the EU will always want to say “no” to anything which would diminish its power over the UK, that is why the UK should have been prepared to act unilaterally then and the same is true now.
I’m pretty sure you’ve been told this before.
March 27, 2022
And, do tell, exactly when did Mrs May propose it? To what exactly did the EU say no? There was nothing in that draft letter which would have even needed agreement from the EU or the Irish government, nothing to which they could say no. Unless of course you think that the EU would have refused to allow the UK to leave its side of the border just as it was, or would have somehow stepped in to stop the UK Parliament passing a UK law to protect the EU Single Market. The big mistake that Theresa May made was in NOT sending a letter like that, but instead trying to wheedle her way to a “deep and special relationship”:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-talks-downing-street-theresa-may-jean-claude-juncker-michel-barnier-eu-a7704561.html
“Theresa May tells EU she wants ‘deep and special relationship’ after meeting with Juncker and Barnier”
As pointed out long ago, for example here on December 4 2017:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/12/04/two-views-of-brexit/#comment-905136
“My own conclusion is that itâs pointless trying to negotiate about this with people who adopt such an absurd, extreme and intransigent position, and rather than faff around trying to find a form of words which everyone can accept but each can interpret in a different way, and which may well weaken our Union, Theresa May should just say now that the UK will no longer seek any âdeep and specialâ trade deal with the EU but will trade on WTO terms, and the Irish government can like it or lump it.”
March 27, 2022
you write a lot of letters.
March 27, 2022
The country is suffering very badly from a political process which is in every area found wanting.
We get what we vote for, but we can only vote for what the political executives lay down as the criteria for the application and selection process.
We end up with over five hundred at least wet handshakes deciding ours and the country’s destiny. Until we get people with the right experience, qualified in essential areas critical to good government we ain’t going nowhere irrespective of what colour or wing they represent.
March 27, 2022
First show some common sense and continuing goodwill to our neighbours by passing the new UK laws to protect the EU Single Market that were contemplated in the July Command Paper. That’s eight months ago now and nothing has been done about it, why not? Then invoke Article 16 in the protocol to formally suspend the operation of the objectionable parts of the protocol. That formal suspension would not make as much difference in practice as might be thought because the UK government has already unilaterally extended some grace periods indefinitely so hardly any of the EU checks demanded by the protocol are being carried out.
https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2022/02/peter-lilley-the-protocol-mutual-enforcement-of-the-law-can-ensure-goods-are-eu-uk-compliant-without-border-checks.html
“Yet the EUâs only legitimate concern is with that tiny fraction of goods which are first, actually exported from NI to the Republic (these constitute just 0.2 per cent of EU trade) and second â within that tiny amount â only that tiny fraction of goods for which UK standards in future diverge from those of the EU or fall foul of EU rules of origin. Currently â when many EU rules have not yet been applied â the EU has not reported a single instance of goods crossing the border which have been a threat to their consumers or producers.
The obvious solution is to make it an offence in UK law to export goods from Northern Ireland to the Republic which do not conform to EU rules, regulations and standards.”
And so forth, well worth reading, and it has now found its way into the Belfast News Letter.
March 27, 2022
There is a circularity to the design of the 2018 Act (as amended). Section 7A clearly intends that provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement are to be enforceable before UK courts. Once created by the Act, that effect is not dependent on further enactments by the UK Parliament. Moreover, section 7A(3) clearly intends that future enactments â and that would include a UK Internal Market Bill â are to be interpreted consistent with the duty to give domestic legal effect to the Withdrawal Agreement. And yet, that intention is qualified by an assertion of the sovereignty of the UK Parliament in section 38.
Two lines of argument present themselves.
The first would be to argue that the assertion of sovereignty is too general to permit legislation that is contrary to the Withdrawal Agreement. Article 4 clearly envisages the possibility that UK courts would have to disapply inconsistent domestic provision, for which outcome the UK agreed to legislate. This is what section 7A achieves and what Parliament intends. A general assertation of sovereignty in section 38 does not produce a specific normative claim capable of trumping the clear and precise obligations contained in the Withdrawal Agreement. It would, therefore, remain the duty of the UK courts to dis-apply inconsistent provisions of a UK Internal Market Act.
The alternative argument would be that to be protected by section 38, the UK Internal Market legislation would need to be express in its intention to legislate contrary to section 7A. A more subtle formulation would risk section 7A(3) being deployed to interpret away any incompatibility. But the more express the alteration of the direct effect and enforcement of the Withdrawal Agreement, the more obvious might become its incompatibility with the Agreement, triggering dispute resolution through the Joint Committee.”
(A Test for Sovereignty after Brexit Can the UK Rewrite the Withdrawal Agreement through Domestic Legislation? Google it.)
Reply Yes we would legislate using a notwithstanding clause to be categorically clear that the subsequent Act modifies the Withdrawal Act. The EU only has power by virtue of the WA
March 28, 2022
So the Redwood plan is for the UK to legislate in breach of the Treaty it agreed just a couple of years ago. Why would anyone do business with the Uk ever again? Do you know who said this – “Britain does not renounce treaties. Indeed, to do so would damage our own integrity as well as international relations.â” Mrs Thatcher said this
March 27, 2022
BTW. I have said before that the UK is/was the most centrally controlled state in the EU by far. The UK Sub-national government has negligible local sovereignty. “United Kingdom local authorities limited by over-regulation and funding issues, says Council of Europe Congress.”
https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/united-kingdom-local-authorities-limited-by-over-regulation-and-funding-issues-says-council-of-europe-congress
March 27, 2022
Im not being funny but what the heck has the UK local government network got to do with the Council of Europe Congress? We left. What are they sticking their nose into our affairs for. We know they forced the mayors on us, the people didnât want them, we donât want police commissioners either and their ÂŁ1m per area waste, Iâd rather that money be spent on direct local area policing, we have too many chiefs and not enough front line in their country.
March 27, 2022
Sorry, but it seems that Neil OâBrien from the Ministry for Levelling up was there to participate in the discussions and possibly the writing of that report. So the question is not âwhat the CoE Congress has got to do with UK local governmentâ but âwhy such a UK government representative participated in this research workâ. Donât you think?
March 27, 2022
No, the UK left the European Union, not The Council Of Europe, ECHR etc., that is.
March 27, 2022
The UK remains in The Council of Europe? Interesting, what does that involve? What has Boris agreed to here? I knew weâd stayed in the ECHR but this is a new one.
Yes Hefner, you are correct, why was the UK government representative there? I wonder how much this is costing us. Because savings just donât seem to be coming through that should be from VAT savings from Rest of the World imports to other fees, fines, tolls etc that Europe put on us as members in addition to the membership fee.
March 28, 2022
Read up, Tracy.
ECHR is the court of the Council Of Europe.
Don’t confuse with the European Council of the twenty-seven leaders of the European Union.
March 29, 2022
I will read up NLH because I still don’t understand what that has got to do with local government in the UK?
March 29, 2022
What an interesting link acorn provided. So the UK is still in and monitored by the Council of Europe Congress. When the Tories lose a vast wave of Councils they’re going to regret this.
Monitoring how the UK respects the European Charter of Local Self Government.
Local authorities are too dependent on national funding and says the system needs revision.
It welcomed the introduction of directly elected mayors in some English regions, proposed measures to create more equality between regions and initiatives by the Scottish Parliament to incorporate the European Charter into Scottish law.
March 27, 2022
The Tory Party is led by a man very much in the mould of John Major, someone whose greed overcame his realisation total unsuitability for high office. Is Johnson a Brexiter? Well he was when he wanted to take over from Mrs May; but before or since? Furthermore, he has the problem that most of the true Brexiters in the Tory Party had been languishing on the backbenches without recent Ministerial experience.
The majority of the English who voted to leave, did so because they fervently wished for an end to the free movement that damaged their life chances. Those that voted to remain were succoured by the pathological lies put out 24/7 by every single organ of the Establishment. Those who weren’t English, voted to leave in some measure because it meant to them that the Poles and others would be replaced by even more of those from outside Europe like themselves and these are well represented in the present Cabinet. Well those who weren’t English were right, weren’t they. Hatred of the English is the common theme running through the Houses of Parliament and those that bankroll them for their own ends.
The problems we face are easily solvable; unfortunately without a change in the electoral system to ensure that all votes count equally, this will never happen. We will continue to see our freedoms and living standards eroded whilst parliamentarians fret about trivia.
March 27, 2022
Sir John, parliament’s sovereignty was NEVER in doubt and cannot be signed away by a government, as a future government can just pass a new law restoring it. International treaties are NOT laws, and have no legal force. They are just agreements, and what one parliament agrees to another can disagree to. Parliament is sovereign and no government can bind its successors, everyone knows that. I think you have got too bogged down in legal minutia, as a displacement activity arising from having lost sight of what REALLY matters: POLITICAL WILL.
All we need is for a prime minister who has the guts to stand up to the EU and say that he is now revoking the NI Protocol as this is now past its sell-by date. That’s it. The text of the Protocol, or the Withdrawal Agreement, or even the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, are all utterly irrelevant. We can just do whatever we want – that’s what being a sovereign country means! I fear that we have been ruled by the EU for so long that politicians have forgotten what national freedom means. They have internalised national subservience and subjection and are incapable of thinking independently any more.
And now we have the brainless Liz Truss admitting that she does not want to activate Article 16 of the Protocol as she doesn’t want to ‘undermine the united front with the EU against Russia’. What a stupid, stupid woman!! If the EU object to what we do in OUR OWN COUNTRY then THEY are the ones ‘undermining the united front’. This awful, weak, stupid, cowardly and traitorous Remainer must never become leader of the Conservative Party, and I hope all Brexiteer Tory MPs have made it clear to her that she has lost their support.
March 27, 2022
+1
March 27, 2022
Parliaments, not governments, pass laws in the UK.
Got that?
March 28, 2022
+1
March 27, 2022
A further thought, when the jets were all down on the ground during the last two years, was the opportunity taken to modify them while we ourselves were being modified?
March 27, 2022
I suspect that there are more voices in government and parliament that prefer not to upset the EU and Sleepy Joe as opposed to supporting Northern Ireland. There is a definite lack of momentum in any desire to do the right thing. Yet another expensive political decision and catalyst for conflict.
March 27, 2022
+1
March 28, 2022
+1
March 28, 2022
“undermined the rights of the EU ”
We did not vote to preserve the rights of the EU. Johnson let us down just as May did. I am now suspicious that then, as now, he is all too ready to submit to his globalist friends. All that was necessary was a fair and reciprocal trade deal with no political objectives embedded in it.
We have a huge ongoing problem with Johnson and need rid of him.
March 28, 2022
This morning I have finally got a substantive response to my latest Freedom of Information request about the economic value to the UK of Boris Johnson’s much-vaunted “Canada style” Trade and Cooperation Agreement with EU, and the answer from the Department for International Trade is:
“We can confirm that the Department does not hold any information in scope of your request. DIT was not involved in modelling the TCA and in providing analysis to support the negotiations.”
Of course trade is where I started with my previous FOI request, which was for any ex ante projection of the likely economic value to the UK of a “Canada style” trade deal with the EU. They said then that they knew nothing about that, and instead I should try the Treasury and business departments. Which I did and both of them also said that they knew nothing about it; later I tried the Cabinet Office and then the Foreign Office for any ex post analysis, and the Cabinet Office never replied while the Foreign Office said that they knew nothing about the value of this trade deal with the EU, even though they are now responsible for our relations with the EU, and I should try the trade department … so nobody in the UK government and civil service has any idea what Boris Johnson got from the EU for selling out Northern Ireland, or conversely what we would lose if the EU carried out its threat of terminating the treaty if he invoked Article 16:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/02/18/brexit-wins/#comment-1300592
“He had a nasty shock last November when the EU threatened to take away his precious trade deal.
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2021/11/18/article-16-will-eu-end-brexit-trade-deal-if-uk-ditches-northern-ireland-protocol
âArticle 16: Will EU end Brexit trade deal if UK ditches Northern Ireland Protocol?â”
The leader of the Ulster Unionist party wrote something very sensible last week:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/doug-beattie-unionism-must-fight-nis-corner-not-go-off-in-a-huff-3626834
“To say we can cooperate on high risk strategies around a conflict that could see Europe descend into flames but canât sort out getting a bottle of olive oil from GB to NI without checks is simply untenable.”
But of course it is tenable while “Conservative and Unionist” MPs passively allow it to be tenable.
March 28, 2022
I wish we could exit all agreements with the EU. Triggering A16 would be a start. If they won’t play ball, give them 12 months’ notice to exit the CTA. Of course, remoaners would be up in arms.
I realise this won’t happen, but one can wish. We should not have a tariff-free arrangement with a trade bloc that sells more to us than we sell to them.