Sir John Redwood is MP for Wokingham
Brexit was a vote to take back control. Remain tried to turn it into a narrow discussion of trade and trading arrangements, denying much more constitutional significance to the EU. Brexiteers wanted our country back. We knew that greater prosperity and freedom as a result would depend on what use Parliament made of the freedom to make our own choices. The public, in anger at the way the 2017-19 Parliament tried to undermine the verdict of the people and tie us back into much of the EUâs laws and arrangements, voted for the big Brexit majority in 2019.
Given the hassle and the anti-democratic efforts of so many in a Remain-dominated establishment to keep us close to the EU, it was understandable that the Prime Minister would rush through a Withdrawal Act before the last election when he was still hamstrung by the absence of a Brexit majority.
After the Conservative win, he speeded up negotiations on a future relationship. The EU had insisted on a two-stage process, agreeing terms of withdrawal, leaving and only then negotiating a future relationship. A possible trade agreement to supplement WTO most favoured national trading that would otherwise apply helped them more than us, but was used by the Remain establishment to keep us closer to EU rules.
The EU broke its own interpretation of EU law which it said necessitated this phased approach by inserting a Northern Ireland Protocol into the Withdrawal Agreement which did tackle some future relationship issues which were meant to be out of bounds at that stage.
The Protocol it drafted was contradictory and ambiguous. It contained a lot of clauses requiring Northern Ireland compliance with the EU Single Market, but it also included clear statements that Northern Ireland would be part of the UKâs internal market and would benefit from UK free trade deals, and that Northern Irelandâs status as part of the U.K would be confirmed.
Both sides recognised the Protocol did not represent the final answer, which is why it included Article 13.8 which provided for cancelling or replacing it in due course. It was assumed by many there would be a clearer statement in the future relationship treaty. When it did not produce one, Northern Ireland was left facing an uncertain future. Conflicting jurisdictions in the EU and U.K took very  different views of what the contradictory and ambiguous document meant.
The EU decided on a maximalist interpretation, imposing or seeking to impose a vast array of controls and checks on internal U.K. trade passing between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The U.K. politely spent two years asking for some give as well as take from the EU with no success. The Unionist parties in the recent Stormont elections suffered from the damage done to Great Britain/Northern Ireland trade, and to the sense of identity of the Unionist community in Northern Ireland by the intrusion of the EU into  their lives.
The U.K according to the EU cannot change VAT in Northern Ireland when we change it for Great Britain against EU laws. Northern Ireland has to accept an avalanche of new law from the EU every year while Great Britain does not have to accept or legislate for anything similar. Northern Ireland gets no vote or voice on the laws the EU imposes
As a result, unionist members of Stormont are refusing to join an executive or government in Northern Ireland until the Protocol is removed or substantially amended. They see an EU understandably on the side of its member state, the Republic of Ireland â out to govern against their wishes and interests, forcing on them an unwanted border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and many costs and impediments to Great Britain/Northern Ireland trade. The U.K. has refused to implement all of them, but the ones already in place are damaging enough.
The Government needs to take action to remedy this big problem. The Belfast Agreement which established peace in Northern Ireland after years of violence is important and is rightly backed by the President of the USA. This agreement has now been undermined by the Protocol . Both the unionist and the nationalist communities need to give their consent to any major decision in Northern Ireland. The Unionists do not consent to the Protocol which they think undermines the Act of Union and deprives them of full and equal membership of the Union of the U.K.
As the EU seems to delight in forcing Northern Ireland against its will into dependence on EU laws and rules that the Government must act soon and unilaterally  to remedy this. The EU mouths its meaningless and wrong soundbite that the UK and Northern Ireland have to stick to an international treaty and must not break their law. The truth is that the EU is failing to carry through the parts of the Protocol it does not like and has damaged the Good Friday Agreement. It is controlling parts of tax policy in Northern Ireland and stopping British supermarkets delivering food to Northern Irelandâs shops.
The U.K. anyway has the power to legislate independently reserved carefully in the crucial Clause 38 of our Withdrawal Act which is the only form of the Treaty which has power in U.K. law. That Article reserves the right for the U.K. to assert its sovereignty over any of these matters if it needs to. The Government could also operate legally under the terms of the Protocol itself as Article 16 allows us to take unilateral action where the other party has damaged the economy and society of Northern Ireland and or where trade with the U.K. has been impeded. Clearly, both tests have been met.
Many British businesses have stopped selling into Northern Ireland or have streamlined what they sell faced with ridiculous EU imposed checks. More importantly, the delicate balance between the two communities has been fractured with unionists wanting their country back. It is important that the Government upholds the Belfast Agreement. That means explaining all this to US Democrats who do not understand the Unionist position or the legal background
It means acting unilaterally and fairly to take control of Great Britain/Northern Ireland trade whilst guaranteeing the full force of the state to prevent non-complaint goods travelling into the Republic. It means standing up to the EU as it mouths falsehoods and threatens illegal responses. Brexit is not done all the time it does not extend to Northern Ireland. Our Union is not safe all the time the people who believe most in it are treated so badly.
May 17, 2022
Good morning.
But nothing requiring the RoI to comply with the UK Single Market. A lop / one sided agreement if ever there was one. What plank negotiated that ?
I believe that the EU and its Remainer shills are using Ulster as a form of Trojan Horse. Their hope it to keep the UK as closely aligned and within the sphere of the EU (Germany and France) and not to let us prosper. They have succeeded in poisoning the BREXIT well.
Back in 1940 Winston Churchill realised that the Channel Islands could not be saved and to try and do so would lead to its destruction and much death. Better to declare it an âopen cityâ and allow the Germans to take it unopposed. But despite this the UK still fought on and made sure that the Islandersâ were not forgotten, and deliverance would come someday as in indeed it did. They never gave up hope.
The Unionist community must be given the same hope. This, will we scrap the NIP or not, is not helping and is just exasperating matters and may be forcing people in certain directions we would not like to see.
If the UK has indeed left the EU and we are now a sovereign nation, now is the time to show it !
May 17, 2022
Oh look, as if by magic !!!
Don’t tell me, you found my comment at the back of your sopher and was going to publish it honest ?
May 17, 2022
Whaf it amounts to today is a misinformation spree with conflation of the facts and figures all jumbled together and for what? In an effort to throw a smokescreen over the real situation pertaining in the hope that BS baffles brains – well it won’t pass analysis in parliament or the Lords and neither will it pass analysis in Brussel or Washington- breaking the law is breaking the law. So persist along these lines and am afraid we are heading for serious trade difficulties – of course the political class will be shielded from the worst effects as usual – instead it will come down on the heads of the long suffering public – expecially the business and travelling public. As an aside I notice that Boris didn’t engage with the Ulster farmers group yesterday to get their perspective – no no! It’s only ever about the DUP minority voice.
May 17, 2022
Jack,
âbreaking the law is breaking the lawâ
There is no law breaking contemplated. It is a case of using the powers of the agreement when arrangements are failing.
May 17, 2022
Johnson said yesterday the protocol would remain.
Last year the Internal Market Bill was going to be passed but was withdrawn by Gove. I fail to see your point JR when your govt has no intention to scrap the protocol or introduce legislation.
Johnson saying again he will change parts is for the birds, a proven liar who is totally untrustworthy. How many promises has he broken about N.Ireland? Sky TV on Sunday showed a clip of him from two years ago to Kwertang saying no checks, no sea border etc. he knew what he was saying was completely untrue.
May 17, 2022
Golly gosh!
Apparently Truss has suspended the protocol.
I guess he lies to everyoneâŠEU included.
May 17, 2022
There’s a case for amending the Oath of Allegiance to exclude those whose primary loyalty is to the EU.
May 17, 2022
Jack,
Perhaps the Americans can explain why they have not given California back to the Mexicans
May 17, 2022
International law, like any system of law, only exists
in as much as it can be enforced.
May 17, 2022
Bunter is talking about fixing the Protocol, why would they change it for the betterment of NI and UK, when it is doing exactly what they want it to do?
If Bunter’s plan B, to change the Protocol unilaterally, is acted upon then we can expect fines from the ECJ. Bluff and blustering is not good enough.
May 17, 2022
What material loss would the EU suffer from the measures Liz Truss has announced? As she repeatedly said the EU will not be hurt, and I believe that in fact its Single Market may even be better protected if there is a more thorough system for locally produced goods. Except maybe its overweening pride will be hurt …
May 17, 2022
Exactly Peter and you have to ask why does Labour not support Boris in sorting out the best deal for the United Kingdom. All of the booing and oooing from the opposition benches rather than defending OUR country over a foreign competitor needs highlighting on our news and in our newspapers every day.
May 20, 2022
The NI Protocol was conceived to protect the Good Friday Agreement. The Good Friday Agreement was conceived to stop people taking revenge from earlier conflicts and killing each other.
Decent citizens donât need a formal agreement not to kill their neighbours. Trade is about folk buying and selling goods and services in exchange for what they are worth. Creating a special Protocol to stop a customer risking death by buying something is as daft as the EU.
May 17, 2022
Jack, have you by any chance read the Withdrawal Agreement and the NIP? (Did you read their predecessor, Mrs May’s WA with its Backstop?) Have you read the Belfast Agreement? Have you read the Act of Union? Have you read the Treaty of Lisbon? If you have, you will know who has been breaking the law, and it is not HMG. Of course this lawbreaking “passes analysis” very easily in Washington because they do not appear to have read any of these things. And why should they? It is none of their business.
May 17, 2022
I agree â this government has tied itself in knots trying to plicate the EUâŠ.now theyâre just polishing a turd
May 17, 2022
Jack, are you an international lawyer dealing with this matter, from what position are you in that you so are adamant that you are correct?
May 17, 2022
“Both sides recognised the Protocol did not represent the final answer, which is why it included Article 13.8 which provided for cancelling or replacing it in due course.”
Did you not read the article?
May 17, 2022
The UK governmentâs own impact assessment, published after Boris agreed the oven ready deal, made clear ALL these checks would apply. Did you fail to read it?
May 17, 2022
I was screaming at my MP not to vote or approve the NIPâŠ.I donât think he read it; he most certainly didnât read the Belfast Agreement or the EU Trade & Cooperation Agreement
May 17, 2022
The problem to be solved is how to control the goods being carried across the open land border from Northern Ireland into the Irish Republic and so the EU Single Market.
In other words, the challenge is how to devise a sensible workable system to control exports to the Republic, not to control imports into Northern Ireland or into the whole of the UK.
I shall be looking today to see to what extent the government has grasped that the focus should be on export controls, and that import controls are essentially a displacement activity.
I have been trying to explain this simple fact in different ways for four years now, including with allusions to the analogous case of Liechtenstein highlighted in the FT in May 2018:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/05/13/technology-at-the-border/#comment-934862
“âAh, the Liechtenstein solution Denis.â
Yes, acorn, I think I may even have mentioned Liechtenstein as a working example of an open border with divergent regulatory requirements on each side. But if you look at the FT article you will see it argued that the model was âa generalised concept that could be used in other circumstancesâ, and ânot just tailor-made for Liechtenstein.â.
We donât need the EU to offer it to us, that is a typically supine way of looking at it; we could offer it to them, and they could decide whether to accept our kind and helpful offer and so save themselves the bother of checking our exports for conformity with EU rules, any more than they have to do now while we are in the EU Single Market, or alternatively reject our kind and helpful offer and reinstate border controls on their side.”
May 17, 2022
Quite Dennis – well said
May 17, 2022
Liechtenstein is in a customs union with Switzerland and uses the Swiss franc as its currency. Liechtenstein is a member of the European Economic Area and EFTA, which links it into the European Union and the Schengen Area. Its government has stated it is gradually synchronising its economy to be part of an integrated Europe. The EU has stated that it will not entertain a similar form of EU quasi-membership again.
May 17, 2022
Well then, we may have to entertain it for them.
“PROTOCOL ON IRELAND/NORTHERN IRELAND
The Union and the United Kingdom,
HAVING REGARD to the historic ties and enduring nature of the bilateral relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom,
RECALLING that the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union presents a significant and unique challenge to the island of Ireland, and reaffirming that the achievements, benefits and commitments of the peace process will remain of paramount importance to peace, stability and reconciliation there,
RECOGNISING that it is necessary to address the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland through a unique solution in order to ensure the orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union … “
May 18, 2022
Why give Liechtenstein this concession Acorn (is it do to with the political elites like Junker) it was originally allowed by Protocol 15 of the EEA Agreement to limit free movement of persons from other EEA states until 1 January 1998 and then the measure was subjected to a review which concluded in a declaration by the EEA Council that allowed Liechtenstein to indefinitely limit free movement. Seems you can have your cake and eat it.
May 17, 2022
Dennis,
I have promoted this strategy previously. The UK should interpret the Protocol to it’s own advantages and needs and let the EU jump up and down and go whistle over the parts of our interpretation they dislike. After all, NI is part of the UK and we should be in the driving seat.
At an early stage in the FTA negotiations the UK tabled a seamless digital software system for traded goods. The UK and ROI tax departments both agreed that it would work but the EU rejected it out of hand. No doubt a political response.
Boris needs to be as hard nosed as the Australians and Americans. Just push back hard. Start using the word “no”.
May 17, 2022
Methinks you forget the Good Friday Agreement.
May 17, 2022
In what way?
May 17, 2022
The Belfast Agreement has nothing to say on the border.
May 17, 2022
Why on earth should Britain try to prevent British goods moving across the border from NI to the Republic? The proposal that we should control this – put forward by the government and even the normally-sensible Sir John – makes no sense at all. These exports do not harm the UK. We should be *encouraging* exports, not restricting them!! Both the UK and Ireland have said that they will not build a border between the North and the South, so allowing goods to flow freely across this border will make no difference to that. The fact that the EU do not want these UK-made products is utterly irrelevant. We DON’T CARE what the EU wants, or thinks. And why should we – they certainly don’t care about *our* wishes. Helping the EU is a sign of weakness. It is pathetic.
I reject ANY solution other than the complete SCRAPPING of the entire Protocol. We have no similar agreement with any other country, and we should not offer the EU this uniquely favourable arrangement. The EU has certainly not offered the UK any uniquely favourable benefits or privileges, has it? Boris the Traitor has said he does not intend to scrap the Protocol, and so I certainly do not intend to vote for him or his party again.
May 17, 2022
+1
May 17, 2022
Please do keep on repeating yourself Denis. This cannot be said often enough to people who simply haven’t done their homework yet want to get up on a high horse to defend the EU.
May 17, 2022
@ Denis Cooper “The problem to be solved is how to control the goods being carried across the open land border from Northern Ireland into the Irish Republic and so the EU Single Market. “ – indeed, and the British answer should always have been what it should be now – “our border, their problem”.
May 17, 2022
The first move of the chess piece is to close the land bridge through GB to the Republic.
May 17, 2022
Oh yes, I’d forgotten about that.
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/02/12/the-world-economic-slowdown/#comment-995224
“This is interesting:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/haulier-times-from-ireland-to-eu-may-triple-903493.html
âHaulier times from Ireland to EU may tripleâ
Thatâs because:
âThe landbridge is the quickest route to market, and three times quicker than container shipments. After Brexit, the landbridge will be compromised, because of multi-agency checks at ports and new administrative red tape, which ultimately increases costs.â
Thatâs us here in Great Britain, as far as Irish hauliers (and politicians) are concerned we are just a convenient âlandbridgeâ to the continent. However … “
May 17, 2022
Ah they don’t need the landbridge any more since the amount of shipping between irish ports and the continent has been increased threefold over the past year.
May 17, 2022
Maybe Tory MPs should condemn the arrival from the US of people who seek the dissolution and destruction of the United Kingdom
May 17, 2022
+1
maybe this is why he caved in again.
May 17, 2022
Well,Biden did say -repeatedly-“America is back”
…..and back in Somalia this week,too.
May 17, 2022
DRC letter in the Irish Times today:
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/ni-protocol-and-the-dup-1.4879967
“Nobody has ever questioned the right and duty of the EU to protect the integrity of its single market from unacceptable goods being brought into the Irish Republic across the land border with Northern Ireland. But how much would it matter for that stated purpose whether an unacceptable item was intercepted at Belfast docks, or at the land border itself, or at any point in between?
In principle it matters not at all; in practice it is universally agreed that it would be prudent to keep all checks and controls away from the actual border, while the last option has the distinct advantage that it not only makes it possible to focus just on the imported goods destined for export to the Republic but also covers goods produced in the province for export, which obviously will not be picked up at any point of entry.
Why then is the EU so insistent that its checks and controls must be misdirected to all the goods imported into Northern Ireland, most of which stay in the province and so need not concern the EU, when it should concentrate just on the goods which are being exported to the Republic?”
May 17, 2022
If British ‘unacceptable goods’ cannot be sold legally in the Irish Republic, as a matter of common sense why would any business in the UK try to sneak them over the border ? The EU appears to have no understanding of real life. All they can do is control, regulate and obstruct.
May 17, 2022
Excellent point Denis.
May 17, 2022
“Addressing the Commons on Tuesday, Ms Truss laid out the proposed changes to the protocol which include a “green lane” for goods coming from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and tougher penalties for those smuggling goods into the EU via the Republic.”
I think Ms. Truss’ proposal covers your point.
May 17, 2022
It was a crucial time to act for ourselves when the EU attempted to insist on a 2-stage process, leaving negotiation only after accepting their terms of withdrawal. What outsiders sought in their own interest did not then override our choice and power to pursue ours, and does not even now.
The EU seeks to exert control in dividing our Union by treating Northern Ireland separately, because it has a connected part with the Ireland they partly control. England has a land border with France: the Channel Tunnel.
We could treat odd parts of the EU separately on many grounds. Great Britainâs geography is shaped like a barrier to shield the whole of the island of Ireland from the hostile continent anyway. The EU has a large hole in its centre: Switzerland. Swiss folk are possibly the most sensible of all, doing what they decided is better for their own freedom of choice; in peace and harmony.
May 17, 2022
The country never lost control. The fact that it has left the European Union is absolute proof of that.
It simplified trade by agreeing to set the standards for products etc. with its nearest and biggest trading partners, and on matters over which no reasonable person would disagree, just as they would not over environmental, nor over health and safety standards, and little more.
Quite clearly, in the europhobics we are not, and never have been, dealing with reasonable people.
Heck, the real headbangers believe that the Earth is 6,500 years old.
May 17, 2022
Phobic?
Stonewall tactics now Marty?
May 17, 2022
Headbangers – presumably that’s the Americans as most of the religious lot there seem to believe that. Not met anyone in the UK that do, most don’t even do religion.
May 17, 2022
Johnson was warned not to sign the Protocol. Having just won a General Election with an 80 seat majority he should have summoned up the cojones to face down the Remainers and go for a No Deal Brexit which meant the UK would all leave together ….. as he promised.
He’s only too happy to play at being Churchill, throw ÂŁmillions we haven’t got at Ukraine and pontificate about its Sovereignty and borders, and fails/refuses to protect the integrity of the UK.
May 17, 2022
+1 Donna, there were many articles published warning the horrors of his/Mayâs âdealâ. Spectator, Lawyers for Britain to name two.
âDo or dieâ Johnson was all wind and piss as normal.
May 17, 2022
The 80 seat majority would not have let him. Look how they behaved over the IMB and Foreign Aid.
May 17, 2022
+1 Donna
May 17, 2022
The NI rules are a storm in a tea cup compared to what is coming. Nobody will care.
When the price cap comes off energy prices then heating bills will rise to ÂŁ2800 per year, which is a third of the state pension. You will have a revolt on your hands.
Inflation is going through the roof because politicians broke the bank wrongly believing they could turn back the tide of a virus smaller than a smoke particle that kills no more than in an average year.
Most Politicians have been chasing liberal woke dreams of Net Zero, Mass Immigration and The global rules based order and canât even see the catastrophe coming.
The few politicians that can see the horrors ahead canât do anything about it because the MSM and Carrie will scream and scream until they make themselves sick.
May 17, 2022
+10
May 17, 2022
+1
A trolley Johnson problem of his own making.
May 17, 2022
I’m almost looking forward to watching the CONs claim to be the party of economic competence at the next General Election. It’s going to be the funniest TV broadcast since Delboy knocked the chandelier through the floor in Only Fools and Horses.
May 17, 2022
Your article reminds me of the anger and dismay caused by undemocratic UK politicians. Not only did those politicians try to neuter the result of a democratic referendum (and possibly still do), that they themselves had agreed to, but they also caused huge damage to democracy and the UK’s negotiating position. Their Benn bill (surrender bill) guaranteed we would get a bad deal from the EU and then they tried to blame the Brexiters for accepting a bad deal. We know where 100% of the blame lies, and it is not with the Brexiters.
Those undemocratic politicians are/were UK politicians, who supposedly pledge to uphold the interests of the UK. The remainer politicians who took part in these undemocratic actions should have been prosecuted for treason (especially Hillary Benn), and conspiring with a foreign government. They may not have agreed with the referendum result, but they should have accepted it and worked to gain the most advantageous exit for the UK.
May 18, 2022
I have no doubt that his father must be looking down in disgust.
May 17, 2022
ButâŠbutâŠbutâŠ
WHY has the emphasis become to hand us over, sell us, like slaves, to global unelected bodies?
And to take our country and give it away at their behest?
Ditto remove our rights by force?
It seems to me as if we jumped from the EU frying pan straight into a global furnace.
Will Johnson sign the Pandemic Treaty?
May 17, 2022
Its time that parliament, its MPs and Lords started to work for the betterment of the people of the UK and only the people of the UK
May 17, 2022
+many
Agree 100%
May 17, 2022
I meanâŠ
Look at Sri Lanka!
Scary.
May 17, 2022
âThe Government needs to take action to remedy this big problem.â
Agreed, but so far all there has been is a lot of talk but no action.
May 17, 2022
Talk an no action as with the illegal immigration. Lots of talk of being tax cutters to yet they continue to put them up hugely. Lots of talk of cheaper energy with more wind and solar when these will clearly do the reverse.
Interesting to see how overall deaths in Australia are rising well above normal levels despite the very high vaccination levels. It certainly seems that the vaccines are neither very safe nor very effective. The claims of 80% and 90% were clearly untrue. So will the Covid inquiry by Dame ( ?) be allowed to cover these many vaccine injuries, deaths and indeed the collateral damage from the damaging lockdowns?
May 17, 2022
And there will be no action. Some statements will be issued with minor tweaks and sold as a victory.
Come the next election we shall see.
May 17, 2022
A waste of time posting on âConservative Homeâ which is full of David Gauke fanboys.
It then laughably styles itself âthe home of conservatismâ.
May 17, 2022
Conservatism is not fascism.
Some people need to learn this.
May 17, 2022
Well conservatism is different things to different people to Boris/Carrie and Sunak it seems to be tax to death, regulate to death, borrow, print and then piss down the drain, climate alarmist, woke, socialism. Oh and with dire and declining public services.
Just like Labour/SNP/Libdims but not quite so bad.
London now has the worst congestion in the world I read. Well if you block all the roads with bus/bike lanes and anti car traffic lights and other blockages Kahn/Boris/Shapps what did you expect?
May 17, 2022
I think more people read it than those you describe as David Gauke fanboys who post below, as it applies a form of censorship whereby people who don’t toe the line really are put into moderation for ever. Something akin to the shadow banning the DT and Spectator operate.
May 17, 2022
I’m always put in moderation on conhome. Never tobe posted.
May 17, 2022
Same here for me on this site. Eh, Sir John đ
May 17, 2022
And werenât they very worried the other day about being censored by new restrictions?
Obviously they have no problem being censorious.
May 17, 2022
An excellent description of what has happened and where we are.
We do need to stand up to the EU. They have history of bullying and threatening punishment or consequences if we donât do as they went. I still canât understand what business is it of America, though.
Boris is suggesting we tweak the protocol, is that a good idea? It seems a cop out to me. The remainers and the Republicans are quite forceful bullies, so has he chickened out, or is this the best way forward?
May 17, 2022
He may be being bullied by ignorant American Democrats too.
May 17, 2022
Yes, he’s already chickening out, again:
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/cabinet-minister-claims-legislation-to-rip-up-northern-ireland-protocol-was-never-on-the-cards-this-week
There are now suggestions the governmentâs plans to act on the protocol may be delayed until the summer amid fears of a trade war with Brussels.
“Foreign secretary Liz Truss was expected to announce the tabling of a new bill in the Commons today to alter the protocol, but instead she will simply explain to MPs the UK government’s position on what next steps to take on tackling the issues.”
It’s now getting on for ten months since the Command Paper which said that the government stood ready to pass new UK laws to protect the EU Single Market, laws for which we do not need the agreement of the EU and which would be for the benefit of the EU. Now it seems that it will be dragged out at least to the summer, and then of course there will probably be another excuse for not doing anything about it.
May 17, 2022
Here is how all sides can get a win-win. The UK legislates to unilaterally blow up the N.I. Protocol, big time. The EU Council and Parliament move to unilaterally revoke the Article 50 EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement; nobody is likely to stop them and most WTO members, will probably agree with the EU action.
Then, JR and his fellow ERG caucus, get what they always wanted; a total disconnect from the EU and a reversion to WTO rules. The DUP gets what it has always wanted; a Trump style concrete border wall between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The Belfast Agreement, all parties except the US Congress decide; goes in the shredder. What could possibly go wrong?
May 18, 2022
All of this is nothing more than your fantasy.
May 19, 2022
In the Times today, a letter from the DUP MP Gregory Campbell:
“Sir, Denis MacShane (letter, May 17) is wrong to claim that the DUP wants a âreturn to a border sealing the six UK counties of Ulster from the rest of Irelandâ. I have been a border constituency MP for 20 years, and in my view the threat of a mythical hard border floated by the Republic of Ireland and latterly the EU in part caused the British government to rush into the Northern Ireland protocol.
There is no possibility of 1970s-style border infrastructure. The British government, Republic of Ireland and the EU have all ruled it out. If however, someone made a proposal to create 20 or 30 official crossing points, they could be circumvented with ease using the other 270 or so crossing points along the 300-mile land border. Removing the Irish Sea border and restoring Northern Irelandâs place in the United Kingdom is complex enough without the foolish and deceitful âhard borderâ argument being used to justify the protocol.
Gregory Campbell
DUP MP for East Londonderry”
These were originally county boundaries, and I remembered that recently when my wife and I had occasion to cross between Berkshire and Oxfordshire several times in one journey.
May 19, 2022
And here is the reply I have sent:
“I read the letter from DUP MP Gregory Campbell with great interest.
As I understand the best way to stop people smuggling illicit stuff across the land border into the Irish Republic is to insist that every M&S truck arriving in Belfast from Great Britain must be accompanied by 700 pages of paperwork and its load must be rigorously inspected at the port.
Or is that what is known as a “displacement activity”?”
May 17, 2022
It is the same nonsense that CMD tried. Just offer enough to keep people quiet. Remember his so called renegotiation of our membership ?
May 17, 2022
The problem is that the EU are being far more flexible and pragmatic in their dealings with Russia (yesterday for example deciding to pay for energy in Roubles just as Putin has demanded) than they are with Northern Ireland. Why that might be is open to speculation – maybe they are just bullies in which case UK needs to simply take unilateral action to suspend the protocol.
May 17, 2022
+1 Roy
Strangest thing I read is that France is supplying Russia with weapons!
Trading in roubles maybe means that (unlike us) they donât intend to go cold?
May 17, 2022
RG, the EU is purely and simply Janus-faced in so many ways.
May 17, 2022
Sir JR
An interesting and very one sided interpretation of what is going on in northern Ireland.
1) why is northern Ireland growing faster than the rest of the UK
2) why is there a majority of Stormont members supporting the protocol
3) How much of the DUP loss had nothing to do with the protocol
4) negotiations on the protocol are ongoing
May 17, 2022
Why is NI growing faster than the rest of the UK ?
Probably because so much more public money is thrown at the province than anywhere else in the UK !
Last year ÂŁ15bn more was spent in the province than was raised in taxes.
That’s almost ÂŁ8,000 for every man,woman and child living there.
Current agreements provide a 2.2% rise in the Northern Ireland Executiveâs budget every year !
The Northern Ireland Executive now receives more than ÂŁ120 per person for every ÂŁ100 per person of equivalent UK Government spending in England.
The government is pouring money into the province from the levelling up fund (ÂŁ49m), ÂŁ1 billion for farmers and land managers and ÂŁ9.3 million to support fisheries. Then there is the establishment of a new trade and investment hub in Belfast to grow trade for Northern Ireland and the ÂŁ400 million New Deal for Northern Ireland investing in infrastructure and to boost economic growth.
If it were possible to spend that amount per head of population in England, the results would be spectacular !
May 17, 2022
A concise summary – thanks Bill
May 17, 2022
“why is northern Ireland growing faster than the rest of the UK”
Well, you could have a look at the NIESR UK Economic Outlook Spring 2022 report:
https://www.niesr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/UK-Economic-Outlook-Spring-2022.pdf
which says:
“Northern Irish output, as measured by GVA, has slightly outperformed the UK average; this is partly an outcome of the Northern Irish Protocol and its special status in the Brexit arrangements, including better trade and investment conditions as part of the EUâs single market and customs union.”
But also:
“Employment growth in Northern Ireland falls well below the UK average and is not projected to return to prepandemic levels by 2025.”
And to put it into context you could look at some other parts of that report and others to see how the UK economy is recovering from a massive hit with the pandemic and how output in one region rising “slightly” faster than the average in recent months, which may be “partly” because of its special status, is probably not a good basis for drawing any conclusions about long term comparative advantages.
However I will say that at present the whole of the UK is still following almost all EU regulations with their costs while only Northern Ireland is still enjoying the countervailing benefit of unfettered access to the EU Single Market, limited though that is to perhaps 1% of GDP, but that situation may not endure as the rest of the UK gradually diverges from EU regulations and hopefully gains from that.
May 17, 2022
Denis
“Hopefully gains from that”
Possible but unlikely
May 17, 2022
Bill, you must be very stupid indeed to have so spectacularly failed to understand *any* of the issues or problems involved!
1. The Protocol has not been fully implemented, so at the moment the main problem is the importation of foodstuff from GB. This impacts negatively on consumer choice and quality of life, but does not affect NI’s GDP. It does, however, affect GB’s GDP, as we cannot export as much to NI. Scrapping the Protocol will make no difference to NI’s exports, as Ireland has made it clear they will NOT build a border, and it will improve GB exports.
2. Given this negative impact on GB exports, it is clear that the Protocol is a UK issue, not just a NI one. It therefore matters not one jot if even *all* Stormont members supported the Protocol! In truth, however, *none* of the parties in NI believe that the Protocol is working well, although they differ in their views of what should be done about it.
3. Your focus on the DUP, or NI politics in general, is – as I’ve explained – too narrow. This is an issue of UK-wide importance, in both constitutional and economic terms.
4. Given that the EU have made it clear they will *not* rewrite the Protocol, talks are pointless. Indeed, talks have been going on for around two years and have achieved bugger all. If talks were the way to solve the problem this would have been done by now. There is no point talking to the EU.
I suspect there is no point talking to you either. You are clearly one of those bigoted Britain-hating, EU fanatics. I’ve given you the facts, so if you continue to talk rubbish that will just demonstrate your own deceitfulness.
May 17, 2022
X-tory
Have you ever learned the art of civil discussion?
I am overwhelmed with your compliments, thank you.
May 17, 2022
BB,
1. Please define. We need facts that can be checked, not one liners.
2. Just at the moment they are nationalists in favour of a united Ireland. Presently a formula for disaster and political unrest.
3. My best guess is that it stemmed from disillusion with the lack of progress with the EU in trying to resolve the divisive elements of the NIP. It amounted to, we can’t be bothered to vote.
4. As best I can judge the EU have refused to negotiate for the past 18 months. The NIP is the way the EU would wish to punish the UK for having the temerity to vote to leave and become a sovereign state once more.
Both you and NLH need to start thinking positively about the UK acting independantly on the world stage. Boris for all his faults has on occasion acted like a real world statesman, while your left barely rise above the level of parish councillor.
May 17, 2022
Agricola
I sincerely hope we will start acting independently on the world stage to the benefit of everybody in the UK.
You and I differ on how successful that can be implemented either in or outside the EU.
May 17, 2022
Wrong Bill, there is NOT a majority of Stormont members supporting the protocol. There is a unionist majority against said protocol but as they are not European puppets they differ on the way to fight the eu and our moronic PM
May 17, 2022
MFD
I was quoting the FT on that majority
May 17, 2022
Extraordinary that you say the Brexit vote meant wholesale departure from the EU but the recent NI election despite the SF majority requires that the Unionists be given strong representation. A hint of hypocrisy.
May 17, 2022
If we just made a rude gesture and said âOn yer bike!ââŠwould the EU invade us?
Oh no!! They might make trade difficult for us!!
Quelle horreurâŠ..
THAT could NEVER happen while we were being oh so reasonable could it?
May 17, 2022
They could stop us returning illegal immigrants crossing the channel back to mainland europeâŠ..oh they do that already !!
May 17, 2022
The party that can walk away from a negotiation has the upper hand. Despite a lot of bluff it is very clear the U.K. wonât walk away so the EU needs to do little/nothing and knows it.
May 17, 2022
+1
May 17, 2022
Marry in haste – repent at leisure.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but even at the time many of us were saying that we should leave with no agreement. We should have just let the clock run down and tested the legality of “the letter”.
By tying ourselves to an agreement the EUphiles in the UK (still) flagellate us with international law and claims that we are in the wrong. We are playing against a two sided coin.
There are two ways out of this, one is a border vote with the winning decision also being a decision on the protocol, the other is to test the legitimacy of our withdrawal act and to scrap the protocol.
There is already fairly free movement of people across the NI/Eire border if the EU wants to restrict goods then it can find a way to do so at the border not within the UK.
May 17, 2022
The reality almost certainly is the EUâs unspoken objective is to ensure that there is something which can clearly be held up for all as a cost and failure of Brexit, and wrenching and out of the U.K. is the best bet. The senior EU official mr selmayer stated that NI must be the price of Brexit- a remark which itself breaches article 1 of the Belfast agreement, which states that the status of NI can only be changed by democratic consent. No doubt in reality what the EU the Irish govt and perhaps even some US democrats want to see is a united ireland. They couldnât care less about the unionist community.
But itâs no good talking tough unless you are prepared to follow through on it. If the govt does as sir John suggests – which is indeed the only way to break the impasse, as itâs clear the EU have no interest in negotiations – it must be prepared to follow through with radical policies to counter the ensuing trade war, which the EU will be likely to launch. Radical moves on tax, deregulation, trade etc. it will have to be Singapore or at least Switzerland on Thames. Continuing with big state, high tax, EU-style dirigisme whilst engaged in a long trade war wonât work. If the govt wants to continue the leftist policies it will have to cave in in NI Iâm afraid.
May 17, 2022
How about the Freedom Fighters in NI?
Shouldnât we be chucking all resources at preventing them from being subsumed?
The brave and small against a great power.
Thatâs what we do isnât it?
Or as Ronald Reagan saidâŠâOne manâsâŠ
May 17, 2022
According to this article in the Times:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-defies-warnings-over-northern-ireland-protocol-mvtskzfvs
supported today by a letter from Denis Macshane, of all people, it would be “an act of aggression” for the UK to unilaterally disapply (not ‘rip up’) certain parts of the Northern Ireland protocol.
Really? So if the real world effect was to cease the irrational EU checks on all goods coming into Belfast and instead send just those destined for the Irish Republic down the road to Lisburn for their required EU checks, and in addition arrange for any locally produced goods intended for export to the Republic to also be checked there when otherwise they might evade any EU checks, as they will not pass through any point of entry to the province, thus actually providing a higher level of protection for the EU Single Market than under the currently mandated arrangements for EU checks and controls, then the EU would claim to be injured and would treat that as a casus belli?
And possibly not even wait to find out that it had not in fact been injured but had benefited from that rational shift from checking imports into Northern Ireland to checking exports to the Republic, and get its retaliation in first?
May 17, 2022
Oven Ready Fudge
May 17, 2022
Glen
There is no fudge here
May 17, 2022
Whatever happened to Monsieur Barnier? Didn’t he try and stand for Pres. on a Frexit ticket…. tres hypocrite eh!
May 17, 2022
Sir John,
The more time that goes by, the more the EU exposes itself as the power-hungry racket that it really is.
I wouldn’t take much notice of these Democrats, they know they’re on borrowed time.
May 17, 2022
The NIP is a rotten apple in the United Kingdom barrel, designed to infect the whole construct of the UK. No half measures, it has to go. The only question I have is why is it taking so long.
May 17, 2022
If they repeal the NIP than people will soon realise that the WA and TCA are built on sand
May 17, 2022
People should listen to the comments of Archie Norman from M&S.
The UK government is requiring 700 pages of documentation for M&S ro take a lorry shipment from the UK to the Republic of Ireland, some of which needs be written in Latin and be in a specific typeface. It’s increased driver time by 30% and is costing M&S ÂŁ30 million a year in extra costs. They’ve given up on exporting to France entirely.
Such is Brexit.
May 17, 2022
Not true !
From the Guardian
May 17, 2022
So how much of this folderol will apply to imports from other “third countries”? Including developing countries who are also supposed to benefit from the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement:
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tradfa_e/tradfa_introduction_e.htm
“Traders from both developing and developed countries have frequently highlighted the vast amount of âred tapeâ that exists in moving goods across borders. To address this, WTO members have forged the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which came into force on 22 February 2017 .”
You blame Brexit, but I would be more inclined to blame the EU.
May 17, 2022
Agreed, Sir John.
May 17, 2022
Failure to trigger Art 16 and more appeasement to the EU could result in the permanent separation of NI from the UK. If that happened it would only be a matter of time before Scotland became independent and possibly Wales too.
Blair will be recognised as the instigator of the end of Union and Johnson the demolition man. What a legacy.
May 17, 2022
“Northern Ireland gets no vote or voice on the laws the EU imposes”
Only the main players get a say on EU laws. That’s the problem with the EU and why it’s so undemocratic.
May 17, 2022
“That means explaining all this to US Democrats who do not understand the Unionist position or the legal background”
Don’t be naive Sir John. Biden loves the EU and hates the UK. He will do everything in his power to stop the NIP from being changed or terminated. It has nothing to do with a lack of understanding.
May 17, 2022
+1 Donna
May 17, 2022
I would record my support for the DUP in their opposition to the NI imposed situation. They will be more aware than I am of Boris’s and his Tory party’s duplicity, and their wish to hang on to as much of his surrender to the EU as possible.
The Tory MPs are made up of a majority of the unprincipled in this matter and Boris promised many many times in the HoC that he would invoke Article 16 if the EU did not make signicant concessions to restore sovereignty but was lying and cares nothing about traitorship.
I cannot know how much pressure, threats and constant deceits the DUP are under but do not believe any promises. I read that Truss is making some remarks about ending some parts of the protocol. Do not believe. They will be abandoned if you concede and ‘go back to work’ as Boris demanded.
No doubt Sir John will put his Tory loyalty before your interests and find some way to explain away Boris’s abandonment of the sovereignty of UK. It ought however to be a resignation matter.
DUP and people – do not concede on anything.
May 17, 2022
Don’t worry, Prangwizard. It’s just a way of making sure the headlines tonight and tomorrow don’t mention the surrender of the Azovstal. I don’t suppose much will come of whatever Liz Truss may say.
May 17, 2022
Iâm surprised by the continued loyalty of the DUP to the crown when this government have, for decades stabbed them in the back and sold them cheap to the EUâŠ.Iâm surprised they havenât requested independence from both Westminster and the Oireachtas
May 17, 2022
The EU will not listen until you apply the same checks on their goods coming in to the UK, your government fudged that and the RUK is paying for that weakness.
Ireland gets its independence but keeps a common travel area with the UK, access to UK housing, UK benefits, and the UK NHS!! And more. Then they spit in our eye. Deal with that and give them the same terms they give us and start to restrict their trade to the same measures giving preference to UK competitors to make up for the shortfalls this bad deal created.
Stop with the empty threats first Frost, now Truss. If Boris and your government arenât prepared or allowed to follow through with anything you weaken us like poor parents do with some out of control toddlers. Do things you are allowed to do in retaliation with Southern Ireland to make them come to the table without their bully boy support team.
May 17, 2022
There are hundreds of thousands of British born living quite happily in RoI where they have full benefits same as Irish people and not only that but most of them are EU citizens as well so better get our facts straight before sounding off.
May 18, 2022
James, perhaps I wasn’t clear, I don’t mind working migration and equivalency but we DONT have equivalency in goods trade between Ireland and the UK and that is the level playing field I am looking towards. We did not take peevish action against Ireland when they got their independence I don’t expect any more than what we give.
May 17, 2022
Also, being heave-handed in Ireland never works.
If SOME of the British hadn’t been so heavy-handed in Ireland prior to 1916, I think there is a chance Southern Ireland would have remained in the UK. And most likely remained in the Dominion (with perhaps Ulster even content enough to become part of the Dominion but not part of a country completely separate from the UK).
If SOME Unionists hadn’t been so heavy-handed in the past, I think most Catholics in the North would firmly to quite firmly want to have remained part of the UK. And there would have been little acrimony in the North during the 70’s / 80’s / 90’s (a bit of political acrimony but nothing more than this). Overall, things would have been much better for Unionists i.e. their Union would have been politically a lot more secure in the long-term (with lots more Catholic supporting wanting to remaining part of the UK and taking the sting out of the worst forms of Republicans).
May 18, 2022
In other words, the ‘strongman’, Alpha-male approach doesn’t work in Ireland (or anywhere else for that matter) when coming to a long-term political solution. It just gets people’s hackles up. Have to come to a realistic solution – and that’s for the best long-term survival of both Ulster remaining part of the UK and of Brexit surviving and being a great success in the future.
I think. I might be wrong.
May 18, 2022
EdM hold on a minute, we are getting strong man tactics used against the UK and you say lay down, turn the other cheek. I’ve never been someone wanting to stop migration on equivalent footing, but when stops are put on our goods then we have to put protections in place for our producers.
Stopping UK produce is peevish and the sort of bullies in Brussels and Ireland that you are talking about are used to getting their own way by bully tactics.
May 18, 2022
What you accuse me of is a straw man … I HATE and oppose being a doormat (turn the other cheek is not the same as being a doormat. That’s a heresy. ‘Turn the other cheek’ does NOT mean we are not allowed to protect our interests. It was precisely Traditional Christianity that gave us and supported Just War / The Armed Forces / The Judiciary. ‘Turn the other cheek’ is more about forgiving / forgetting those who ask for forgiveness, showing compassion / generosity of spirit but that is NOT the same as being a doormat. That’s a dreadful HERESY!) as much as acting like a macho Alpha Male. It just back-fires in the long-run. And I wasn’t being prescriptive about how to resolve the issue in the North. I agree, it’s hard. I got no easy answers. And I am a Unionist and believe in UK Sovereignty. But things have to be worked out. There has to be a plan. Leadership etc .. Otherwise, we’ll just go from one crisis to another.
May 18, 2022
It was precisely heretics of the Middle Ages and some Protestants from the Reformation who equated ‘Turn the other cheek’ meaning we have to act like doormats. A father has a moral duty to defend the interests of his family (but without becoming a tyrant either). On the same level, the leader of a country has a moral duty to defend the interests of his country (without becoming a tyrant either) which is why Traditional Christianity gave us the concept of ‘Just War’ and was a strong supporter of the Armed Forces and which gave us our Judiciary. And when a culture follows the spirit of this you get Strong Family Life, and Strong Culture (like the Renaissance) and Strong and Stable Economy (including the Guilds of the Middle Ages) and Education (like Oxford and Cambridge). So Traditional Christianity is about avoid both extremes: being a doormat / wet / wimp and being heavy-handed / domineering / tyrannical – with both extremes harming the individual / family / country in the middle to long-term.
May 19, 2022
EdM, I’m not catholic, my understanding of ‘turning the other cheek’ is that you are supposed to just accept your predicament, don’t resist and be a pacifist. To me personally, that means you just get walked all over until you can’t take anymore.
May 20, 2022
EdM – you talk about Britain having ‘strong-man tactics’ yet we haven’t seen any. But is it ok for Nancy Pelosi to threaten ‘the children of Northern Ireland, who have never known the bloody conflict and do not want to go back, deserve a future free of the violence’.
So what is this? My interpretation: let Southern Ireland and the EU have their way on this or children in Northern Ireland will start to have them and their families bloodied. Who is this woman to make threats like that and get away with it. If Trump had threatened any Country like this he would be pilloried by the British Press but they give her and Biden a free ride over us, the people that pay for their existence. The soft quote over Bidens many misteps, snoozing on duty, tripping falling not just over his feet but his words. He seems a very nice old man but the balance of treatment is just not right, and it makes you wonder why?
May 18, 2022
Also, to what degree is the hopes of Scotthish Nationalism down to the existence of the Republican of Ireland?
I think if SOME of the British hadn’t been so heavy-handed in Ireland 100+ years ago, the whole of Ireland today would still be part of the UK. And the Irish in the South would now be like the Scottish Nationalists today, and the Scottish Nationalists today would be more like the Welsh Nationalists of today (where there is relatively much less desire in Wales to be independent).
I’m sure the rebellion of the Irish 100+ was more against the heavy-handedness of SOME of the British in Ireland back then than actually wanting to be separate from the UK. Heavy-handedness always breeds rebellion in some shape or form at least in the long-term if not in the short.
May 20, 2022
Well, Southern Ireland has its cake and eats it to coin a phrase. The Irish are both as though still British and Irish and European, don’t contribute their 2% to the defence forces as part of the Nato agreement yet get full British and Nato protections, now the Irish deal was a very good deal! We have to provide their travellers with land, properties, education and special sites. In 2001 674,768 in England – six million people are estimated to have at least one Irish Grandparent, the British didn’t take spiteful little attacks against them.
As for what the elites in our long-ago past did I think people forget they were awful to the British in Britain too. They shipped off young criminals to faraway places for stealing bread. They sent children up chimneys to clean them industrial ones too, they sent young girls under weaving looms and had boys on canal boats walking the walls of all the tunnels. let’s not romantise that everything was cool Britania then, they were getting rich off all our descendants backs not just the Irish but do we go on and on about it – no – we are all wealthier than our ancestors in England were then, I know people personally that moan about having no money but spend money they ‘don’t have’ on lottery tickets, on the horses, on wine, gin, vodka or whisky and smoke or vape, they can do what they want with their money but for gods sake don’t moan you can’t feed your kids if the money you are saving from the food banks is spend on your personal vises.
May 17, 2022
Having watched the statement by Liz Truss in the house today, I was surprised at the degree of common ground between Labour and the Government on the need for changes to the Protocol.
Given the very reasonable and logical case the Foreign Secretary has made, it seems to me that she should allow a further period for negotiations, say, one month, concentrating on the need for changes to the Protocol. If the EU does not change the mandate given to Mr Sefcovic by the end of that period, we should invoke Article 16 which would be perfectly legal and entirely in accordance with the withdrawal agreement.
We can then rely on independent arbitration which, given the situation on the ground in NI, would surely come down in favour of the kind of changes the Foreign Secretary wants to make.
May 17, 2022
Chris S, Lord Frost and the Foreign Secretary have been trying patiently and politely for 18 months to persuade the EU to take this matter seriously. How is one more month going to do the trick? The EU has said it is not going to reopen the NIP, even though there are clauses within it which allow for that, and for changing it. Instead they badmouth us as international lawbreakers when it is they who are and always have been the lawbreakers. Our whole history with the EU has been one of our slavishly following the letter of the law while they do as they please.
May 18, 2022
My proposal is only designed to keep us on the right side of International Law.
The extra month of negotiation time will give the EU one last chance to change the mandate and thereby accept the principal of allowing changes to the protocol, which Liz Truss says are essential to make any progress.
I do not expect them to go along with the idea and at the end of that month, we trigger Article 16 as we are legally entitled to under the withdrawal agreement. Those with knowledge of the subject say that the conditions for invoking A16 have more than been met.
It keeps us perfectly legal and Biden, the EU, and all those remainers, cannot accuse us of breaking International Law.
There then follows further negotiation and if the issues are not resolved we can invoke binding arbitration.
As I said, if our case is good and it appears the conditions for triggering A16 have more than been met, we should achieve the changes we wish to see.
If not, we are in no worse position and the government can then decide whether to continue in breech of the agreement which wll inevitably mean withdrawing from the whole agreement and go onto WHO trading terms.
May 17, 2022
Why do we have so many friends in Europe? Where are they? Listening to Boris he never stops referring to his friends in Europe – but I don’t see it.
May 17, 2022
Mel
At one time even, Joseph Stalin was considered a ‘friend’
All a question of perspective.
May 17, 2022
“whilst guaranteeing the full force of the state to prevent non-complaint goods travelling into the Republic.”
Surely John, that is something for the Republic to sort out.
May 17, 2022
Not when it’s being done in UK territory, except with our permission.
May 17, 2022
This was the stupidest thing of all that Mrs May did – taking responsibility for the EU’s border enforcement. Neither we nor the South were bothered about it, only the EU, so they should have sorted it out for themselves. And the Americans should be told the truth. Enda Kenny wasn’t bothered about it, nor were the two sets of customs officers, nor was the EU Commissioner at the time. The border only became “a problem” when Varadkar arrived, when Mrs May lost Cameron’s majority, and when the Benn Burt Surrender Act was passed.
May 17, 2022
I see you have deleted my post from this morning. Or will that magically reappear like last time ?
No links and on topic.
May 17, 2022
Thank you Sir John for the reminder of just how much chaos there was during the Brexit negotiations. There is no doubt whatever that the E.U. seized on Northern Ireland as a useful threat to prevent us leaving.
Presumably you have written in Conservative Home as a means of explaining all this to your Party Machine.
I’m just one English Voter. No connection to N.I. or your party. But I do think N.I. have put up with this situation for far too long.
So – Get on with it! Do something! Yesterday!
May 17, 2022
https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/0517/1299586-protocol-analysis-tony-connelly/
“EU in disbelief over UK’s NI Protocol plans”
Yes, well, I remember when the EU was in disbelief over the Irish people having the nerve to vote against the Lisbon Treaty, and the reaction started with “Throw them out of the EU” – obviously that cannot apply to us – and then it moved to “We are not going to change a word in the treaty, but maybe we can put together some extra words to address the concerns of the Irish people that we can somehow associate with the treaty”.
May 17, 2022
https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/history-eu_en
“The following visionary leaders inspired the creation of the European Union we live in today. Without their energy and motivation, we would not be living in the sphere of peace and stability that we take for granted.
From resistance fighters to lawyers and parliamentarians, the EU pioneers were a diverse group of people who held the same ideals: a peaceful, united and prosperous Europe.”
The UK electorate voted to leave the EU. The UK politicians must now do what they need to do and if the EU decides that a trade war is inevitable then it is inevitable.
May 17, 2022
Apparently the petition to prevent Boris rubberstamping the WHO Pandemic Treaty has now passed the threshold requiring Parliamentary debate. Will you (JR) commit to attending and opposing the contemptuous dismissal of the British people by a handful of MPs and a laughing Speaker?
May 17, 2022
Link?
May 18, 2022
Petition 614335
May 18, 2022
rose: Comments & the actual link to the UK gov / petition to parliament ( number 614335 ) has been mentioned on Sir John’s previous article about the signing of treaties. This one (W H O ) has been gathering support by the minute and stands in excess of 117000 presently. If I may post the link again it is as follows:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/614335
May 18, 2022
Thank you both.
May 17, 2022
Well said, and thanks for continuing to alert people to all of this
May 18, 2022
I do hope the government will be imposing a 3-line whip on this legislation. It seems there is a new Gauwkard quad in the Conservative party with Simon Hoare, Tobias Elwood and others.
Boris Johnson should remember that expelling the Gauwkard squad from the Conservative party in 2019 was the moment he won the last election. If the Conservatives were to win the next election but in a reduced majority then you will need to rid yourself of these diehard remainiacs or you will rapidly find yourselves back in the position of the last parliament were Remainers seize control of brexit business.
May 18, 2022
There are only two words that the EU might understand; “Foxtrot Oscar”. Anything more will be twisted to suit their agenda. Boris needs to be reminded that we voted to “Leave the European Union” not some half baked trade deal that leaves them with control over part of the UK.
May 20, 2022
This (https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/51922-4?utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Editorial&utm_campaign=LNCH%20%2020220520%20%20House%20Ads%20%20SM+CID_a40e38ce05e95efdb7fc9dcdbb57dfbd) is a disgrace coming from a so-called ally. It is about as bad as Russia “telling” Finland not to join NATO.
I suggest that we ignore USA (as far a trade deals are concerned) until there is a new administration. we won’t have to wait long.
In the meanwhile we can put together trade deals with other countries, Indonesia, Algeria, both of which have oil/gas, Morocco (fruit and other produce), Brazil, Mexico and (even) Venezuela (in the hope that Maduro will soon go the same way as P*t*n and Chavez).