| Bernard Jenkin Chair, Liaison Committee (Commons)  12:22 pm, 15th July 2021
I beg to move, That this House The House approved this motion with Labour supporting when Bernard and other MPs including myself proposed it. What the UK government is now proposing by way of legislation is pursuing the policy laid out in this motion. It is important to avoid bringing into effect the many additional controls between NI and GB that the EU envisages. As the motion says there is no evidence of harm being done to the EU’s single market by the failure to impose these extra controls on GB to NI trade. More importantly, as the motion stated, the Good Friday Agreement takes precedence over the Protocol and that Agreement is now visibly damaged and undermined by the EU actions over the UK’s internal market. Whilst the Protocol promised to respect our internal market the needless controls the EU has already imposed on internal GB/NI trade have done damage to our trade and more importantly have lost the support of the Unionist community for the Assembly and political process which lies at the core of the Good Friday Agreement. The government should proceed swiftly with the necessary legal measure to restore UK internal trade. Labour would be wise to remember their support for this policy when they helped the Commons pass this motion. If they do so they help to restore cross community support for the Good Friday Agreement. Visiting US Democrats would be wise to read both Agreements and to grasp how the Protocol is currently undermining the Good Friday Agreement thanks to the heavy handed and wrong implementation by the EU. |
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May 25, 2022
Good morning.
Time will tell if this works. But it will be interesting what action, if any, the EU take and what the subsequent consequences will be. For the EU, to do nothing or to lose would be a major political and foreign policy set back, undermining one of its core beliefs that, together they are stronger.
Interesting times ahead, methinks.
May 25, 2022
Approving the motion is fine. Only time will tell how the next steps pan out. Johnson has always avoided decisive action in the past.
May 25, 2022
Oh please, there was the Internal Market bill last year ie legislation and then Gove withdrew it! JR and chums did whatâŠ.. nothing!
Muppets following criminal Johnson into oblivion. Listen to his explanation for breaking his rules and laws today when he knows people did not visit loved ones dying! He is absolutely appalling and a disgrace to humanity for those he made suffer while he and his team were pissing it up! Now it is perfectly acceptable to the Tory party to lie in parliament.
May 25, 2022
There is no intention of changing the protocol, if there was it would be done by now. Remember deal or no deal, do or die strap line lies.
A bit like save lives save NHS- clink cheers everyone, as the party roles on in number 10.
May 25, 2022
Quite so. Silly posturing. No one in Brussels or Washington takes these shoddy arguments serioysly, while the rest of the world, especially Moscow and Beijing, notes the eagerness of Conservative MPs to ignore international Treaties when it suits them. Shameful, all in all
May 25, 2022
I have said before that the UK needs to forestall any EU action by the simple expedient of making clear what OUR response would be to any EU retaliation. And the best threat to prevent the EU from acting against us is to tell them very clearly that if they take ANY action we will IMMEDIATELY revoke ALL the EU’s fishing licences. If the EU still went ahead with some form of action against the UK we could then ban their fishing boats and effectively solve both the two main legacy EU problems at the same time!
May 25, 2022
X-tory
fishing is 1 % of our trade with the EU, this gives an idea of not beig very practical of have much value
May 26, 2022
with the EU
May 25, 2022
The EU has extensive retaliatory measures should the UK trigger Article 16, let alone take unilateral steps to scrap the Protocol. If it proceeds with its usual preferred weapons, it will target politically sensitive regions of GB, particularly Conservative Party held constituencies in England. The EU will do this with an economic vice of tariffs and multiple forms of limiting EU market access.
The EU is the world’s master at this game. It has done it to the United States when Trump tried to be the master of the planet. Trump responded in kind with the result being an expensive stalemate between two trading powerhouses which Biden is now unwinding. The UK, no matter how great the ERG 62 believe the UK still is, no-longer has the diplomatic or economic firepower of the US or the EU. The UK government will quickly find that it has started a trade war with the EU it can’t win; and, will seriously damage the UKâs already ailing economy.
Unilaterally scrapping the Protocol would leave the UK up a certain Creek without a paddle. The White House; both sides of the US (united in Irish support) Congress and Brussels, against it. Plus, the hundreds of other little nations that have trade agreements with the EU, will be made Brexit aware that it is the EU who is buttering their Bread.
May 25, 2022
Indeed Mark. Time we had the clean break from the EU that we voted for. The EU simply cannot be trusted to honour any agreement.
May 26, 2022
Take note reasonable folk. This poster is entirely serious.
May 25, 2022
In what way does this prevent the dissolution of the United Kingdom?
We need to accept that the UK’s been outflanked by both enemies within and enemies without. The EU, Blair and Obama have succeeded in their quest to destroy the one thing they have always hated, the British, as expressed by the existence of the UK
May 25, 2022
I think more so we have dome this to ourselves. We can add Cameron (for crass negotiation then walking away from a task he promised to do), May (for deliberately avoiding the task and ceding control given to her by the referendum) and Johnson (for not taking back control). History could have provided us with a Thatcher or Wellington at this time, but instead we had 3 weaklings.
May 25, 2022
Indeed SJS; I would suggest “traitors” rather than weakings.
May 26, 2022
May did not ‘avoid the task’ or ‘cede control’ – she saw her task as covertly and tacitly countermanding the decision of the referendum, and keeping us chained to Brussels. The 2017 election was not intended to strengthen Brexit, but to provide her with a large majority of remainer Tory MPs to vote for her version of Bremain. Luckily instead it provided a small but solid guard of ERG+ who voted against, and we should erect statues to all of them.
May 26, 2022
+1
May 25, 2022
A statement Sir John.
My father and my grand father both fought for freedom and the right to be British.
Although I am now in my late seventies I will do the same for my children as there is no greater gift I can leave them.
If Boris does not stamp on this attack of our country NOW! There will be an uprising and I will be at the front fighting for my children’s rights and inheritance.
The eu is not our friends as Bojo says, they are an agressive neighbour who is pushing their plan to rule all of Europe.
Johnson must now make it clear we will not allow it to happen.
This my sound aggressive but so be it.
May 25, 2022
Who exactly will you be fighting at this front you mention? And where will it be?
May 25, 2022
The only solution is to simply SCRAP the Protocol in its entirety, and treat the movement of goods and produce between GB and NI exactly the same as between Kent and Sussex – ie with NO rules and NO controls whatsoever. Fortunately this is also the simplest and the best solution, which is easiest to implement and best preserves the integrity of the UK. I don’t understand the mental contortions which the government (and even our esteemed host here) must go through in order to come up with their idiotic proposal to implement laws – which require administrative controls and much expense – to protect the integrity of the EU’s single market. The EU is a third party (and a very unfriendly third party at that!) and we don’t give a flying fig about them.
Does the US have laws to protect the internal market of Canada? Or of Mexico? Yes or no? And does the EU have any laws to protect the integrity of the UK’s internal market? Yes or no? We need a government, and MPs, who understand that the UK government is only responsible for protecting and defending the interests of the UK – not any foreign country, and especially not foreign scum who hate us and are actively engaged in harming us as much as possible!
May 25, 2022
Has Boris got the guts to face down the EU. All the evidence says no.
And in that respect it looks like a windfall tax coming in. If so purely political and an appalling message to large corporations who might be thinking of re locating here.
This is a socialist government. I might as well vote for the real deal next time round.
And it now obvious that re wilding has/is taking precedence over food security.
May 25, 2022
Boris will follow WEF instructions and keep kicking the NIP down the road.
I feel he wants to lose the next election because he realises that this coupled with net zero are not achievable without bankrupting the nation.
I think Peter Hitchins was right.
Time for England to walk away from the Union.
May 25, 2022
Indeed Ian, Boris is too ready to take instruction from the globalists, whether it be the WEF, WHO, UN or some other, yet to be revealed, outfit.
May 25, 2022
âEngland to walk away from the Unionâ, yes, brilliant idea Ian, ourselves alone, a.k.a. Sinn Fein!
May 26, 2022
If the Tories had only the guts to do that pre 2016, or pre Article 50, then NI and Scotland could have been left happily in the European Union, what?
May 25, 2022
You would think that the Tories would have learned from Theresa May’s disastrous adoption of RedEd Miliband’s price cap idea.
There is no shame in being a Tory, but you have to be prepared to fight for it and not let the Left dictate both the discussion and policies.
May 25, 2022
Thatâs whatâs happened Australia⊠their conservatives behaved like greens, now theyâve got the real deal!
And I agree, having pretty, flowery fields does seem more important to the government than feeding ourselves. Thereâs some really nutty/evil people in places of authority.
May 25, 2022
The pretty flowery fields will actually be scrubland. This is CAP 2, paying farmers not to grow food.
May 25, 2022
The message to anyone wanting to trade here is not to rip off the British public but to act fairly which is a byword for Britishness. If no windfall tax is introduced but the government just give money so the people can continue to pay inflated prices and be ripped off, what does that say? Come here to Treasure Island and rip our people off as much as you like and we will honour you and be glad of a bit of extra tax, leaving you to live high on the hog at the cost of our hard working low paid and pensioners?
May 25, 2022
graham1946. Come off it. Do you really believe that your twisted narrative fools anyone?
Sir John’s diaries yesterday and the day before were not aimed at giving us money so we could continue to be ripped off.
They suggested sensible ways that we could reduce prices, without imposing a windfall tax – which would not reduce prices.
Todays Diary is suggesting a way of solving the present problem of Northern Ireland.
May 26, 2022
In what way is my argument twisted, seems quite logical to me? I don’t agree with rip offs that’s all. I don’t pay them when I have a choice, with oil and gas I don’t and the market is no more.
Perhaps you could tell us how the companies plan to reduce prices? Global oil price is 50 percent lower than at it’s peak, but retail prices highest ever. Enjoy. I take it you are against competition and like cartels. I don’t. Regarding today’s subject, I was making a reply to Nigel who brought up the windfall tax. Anyway, they are going to do it and it won’t affect any investment here as the money is not being invested. I see profit taking has now taken place in the oil and gas shares.
May 25, 2022
âAnd it now obvious that re wilding has/is taking precedence over food security.â
Itâs the âinâ thing. The RHS awarded their top trophy yesterday to a show âgardenâ which displayed re-wilding techniques. For Monty Don, this was not a garden at all, but a âlandscapeâ. Clearly, the RHS was captured by the idea.
May 25, 2022
Scruffy gardens are one thing, prime agricultural land quite another. I have a wild bit at the bottom of my garden, but no way will I go for the ‘no-mow May’ or whatever the latest woke wheeze is. It’s all right for some with their professional gardeners looking after their scruffy plots, but who has to tidy up my garden when May is out? Not them that’s for sure.
May 25, 2022
+1
May 25, 2022
Yes, it does look like a spin=doctor managed u-turn distraction to save the bigdog-Bunter. How pathetic are the sheep who pretend to be Conservative MP’s- Is there nobody worthy of the name Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party?
May 25, 2022
NigL
Exactly how I feel about it.
I’m done with voting.
May 25, 2022
Voting Labour will get us precisely nowhere.
May 25, 2022
Voting Tory, who put their manifesto in the bin the day after polling hasn’t exactly had a great result. If we could get the original Boris back we might be o.k., but having Carrie run the show is a bit much. He needs to go. But who is there left after that? JR could do it, but not in the modern Tory Party.
May 25, 2022
You have to live somewhere where your vote makes a difference for your vote to do anything else irrespective of who you vote for.
Most of us don’t, so just have government done to us (by governments of all persuasions) with no actual say.
May 25, 2022
Robert. Neither will voting Conservative again. They promised much and delivered gay marriage. That’s of no benefit to me.
May 25, 2022
As far as I know negotiations are still going on.
Trying to threaten our friends and allies less than two years later on a treaty we proposed makes little sense.
The majority of the population in NI support the protocol and they are growing faster than the rest of the UK
May 25, 2022
As you must surely know the EU has stated unequivocally that it will not agree to any negotiations to change anything in the text of the protocol, not as much as a single word, not even as much as a comma, so if like Liz Truss you have concluded that the problems of the protocol are “baked into the existing legal text” then really there is no point in any other negotiations.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/liz-truss-the-problems-of-the-northern-ireland-protocol-are-baked-into-the-text-1.4887207
“Our firm preference is to reach a negotiated solution. I have led six months of talks with my EU counterpart, Vice-President Maros Sefcovic to try to reach solutions on the basis of the EU’s current mandate. Despite our intensive efforts in those talks, it has become clear that it will not be possible to resolve the issues Northern Ireland is facing on the basis of the EU’s existing mandate.
This is because the problems of the Protocol are baked into the existing legal text. Without changes to this mandate, we cannot fix the problems. For instance, the current application of the European Union Customs Code, agri-food regulations and the EU state aid regime make it impossible to implement everything from our âgreen channelâ for goods through to a dual regulatory regime and a UK-wide tax and spend policy.”
May 26, 2022
Not true, Denis. The EU is open to changing the Protocol (in fact it has done, eg to allow medicines to flow freely). But it is not open to scrapping the Protocol. Brexit means there has to be a border somewhere, because the UK is no longer a member of the EU club. Everyone – with the Americans firmest of all – says no border in Ireland, so the border has to be GB/ NI. And Boris agreed to that. Don’t like the Protocol? Well, you shouldn’t have voted for Brexit. You were warned the leave campaign had no clue about Ireland
May 26, 2022
Wrong. The EU has stated repeatedly that it will not reopen the protocol and it did not do so for medicines, that was a change in the relevant EU law not the protocol. Among many references:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/19/eu-ambassador-rejects-liz-trusss-demand-to-rewrite-ni-protocol
“EU ambassador rejects Liz Trussâs demand to rewrite NI protocol”
“Vale de Almeida insisted there was no prospect of a change in the negotiating mandate given by the EU to its Brexit representative, MaroĆĄ Ć efÄoviÄ â a demand made repeatedly by the foreign secretary.
âWe were told that we should get a new mandate. Well, I can tell you very clearly, what the member states are telling us is very simple: you donât need a mandate, and even if you ask for one, you will not get it,â he said.
âWe canât renegotiate the protocol: the ink on the signatures is hardly dryâ.”
Now you have been told you have no excuse for repeating your false claim.
May 27, 2022
Brexiters, 2016 – we must leave the EU, it is inflexible.
Brexiters, 2022 – it’s terribly difficult to negotiate with the EU, it is inflexible.
Who knew…
Reply Brexiteers 2022 Solve the EU problems they seek to impose by using our freedom to legislate an answer at home !
May 25, 2022
Bill brown. That is not what I’m hearing.
May 25, 2022
I’ve given up expecting Johnson to do anything in the interests of the UK.
He’s joined the ranks of socialist, Eco-loonies who knows his time in No.10 is very limited and now has his eyes firmly fixed on his next, globalist, role.
May 25, 2022
Donna. I think you are right there but my hope is that having faced a number of threats to his present position, he has been forced to listen to some of his Party who are more sane and patriotic.
May 25, 2022
But this government continues to fail to âproceed swiftlyâ in the interests of its voters and indeed Conservative Party donors. From what Iâve heard direct from Liz Truss âgreen lanesâ etc for goods will still mean retention of the protocol and therefore continuing subordination to EU laws in Northern Ireland.
May 25, 2022
MPC Yes. I’m concerned that this proposal does not sound tough enough.
May 25, 2022
Northern Ireland and GB belong to the UK. The EU should seek to control itself.
It should not meddle in our internal affairs.
Should the UK seek new controls between France and Corsica, or Germany and Sicily, just to reveal how daft the EUâs obsession with power over others is?
May 25, 2022
Bloke
we signed the deal, did we not?
May 26, 2022
Yes Bill, the UK did agree to the terms. The interpretations allow too much scope for deviations into bad behaviour on both sides. Our fault was that we should not have signed such a loose deal in the first place.
May 25, 2022
The ERG with their demand for the Infantile Absolutist brexit that we have are the reason for the danger to the Good Friday Agreement, and nothing more.
They’re not even satisfied with that, however, and I doubt that they would be with anything.
May 25, 2022
What you print here is ERG speak coming straight from the twisted minds of that offshoot that has caused us so many problems in the past and now as I expect – more problems way into the future – am only glad that most of you are young enough to live long to see the results of your collective madness – taking on the EU by demented logic will get us nowhere not even if it is dressed up by the Chair of the Liaison Committee (Commons) – it will not reasonably impress anyone who believes in standing by international agreements until necrssary changes can be made by the parties adhering to such agreements by agreement but not by unilateral action – no matter how it’s dressed up.
May 25, 2022
All very well but it will probably get no-where and in any event will take months and months.
We need to challenge the EU now. What happened last week, or was it the week before, when we heard again from Liz Truss, and Boris in particular, who made a big fuss about flying over to Belfast and meeting people there. He would challenge those attacking our UK unity and support those defending it.
Guess what – nothing was achieved. Boris just blathered and did not help. He just postures. He is incapable of taking courageous decisions to protect us. He is just gutless but his MPs carry on supporting him.
The country is being destroyed by their incompetence. More and more problems will arise, especially as all our enemies, in and out, know we have a dangerous weak leader who just blathers and lies.
May 25, 2022
+1
May 25, 2022
“heavy handed and wrong implementation by the EU”
This agreement was willingly signed by Boris Johnson, who recently admitted that he knew exactly what it contained and meant, and the details of its implementation were negotiated, agreed and signed off by Michael Gove (the implementation agreement documents are in the public domain with his signature on them).
The root cause of the current problems lie with the UK government.
May 25, 2022
As the protocol has been enshrined in UK law through primary legislation the “necessary legal measure” to allow ministers to “disapply” parts of it will also have to be primary legislation, meaning that the government will have to get a Bill through both Houses of Parliament. The chances of getting a Bill through the House of Lords without recourse to the Parliament Acts will be pretty slim even if it includes provisions establishing an effective alternative method to protect the EU Single Market from non-compliant goods crossing the land border. Without any such alternative, shifting the focus of attention from imports into Northern Ireland to where it belongs, on exports from the province across the border into the Irish Republic, then the chances of getting the Bill through will be close to zero. I repeat once again, I understand perfectly well that it will stick in the craw of many to do anything at all to help the EU, by protecting the EU’s Single Market or by anything else, but it has to be done if we want to get ourselves out of this hole.
May 25, 2022
Yes, your brexit well and truly has put the UK in a hole.
May 25, 2022
Here is a letter published two weeks later:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/bring-in-penalties-to-deter-exports-from-northern-ireland-to-the-republic-of-ireland-which-evade-eu-standards-3327139
“Bring in penalties to deter exports from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland which evade EU standards”
“It may seem counter-intuitive to add to the burden of bureaucracy by introducing export licences, but they would only be needed by the relatively few individuals and companies who actually export goods across the land border â that trickle of goods which allegedly pose a deadly threat to the integrity of the huge EU single market â and once in place they would make redundant the present crazy system of EU checks and controls on all goods imported into Northern Ireland.”
May 25, 2022
” … figures revealed that ROI imports from NI in the first eleven months of 2021 increased by 64% to âŹ3,679m compared with the same period in 2020. ROI exports to NI were also up, by 48% to âŹ3,305m in the same period in 2020.
NI has effectively remained in the EU single market under the terms of the NI Protocol meaning goods continue to move smoothly over the Irish border, as they did before Brexit. The Belfast Telegraph reports freight traffic from Great Britain to Northern Irelandâs three ports has increased by around 20% as hauliers take advantage of Protocol rules.
[…] John McGrane, director general of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce, told the Irish Independent that the decline in ROI imports from GB was down to ROI firms finding new suppliers in Europe. âThe reality is that trade doesnât do politics. It just finds the shortest route to market,â he said. He added that there has been âa fair amount of rerouting of trade through Northern Irelandâ. Jarlath OâKeefe, from Grant Thornton Ireland, told City AM that the figures confirmed a significant increase in cross border trade on the island of Ireland following Brexit.
âThis is due in part to businesses adjusting their supply chains to avoid the administrative burden associated with importing goods from Britain,â he said. ROIâs major trade partners according to the CSO, the EU is Irelandâs largest trading partner, accounting for 36% of total goods exports in November 2021. The US accounted for 32% of total Irish exports and 15% of imports. The UK (including Northern Ireland) accounted for 13% of exports and 20% of imports. (Institute of Export: William Barns-Graham)
May 25, 2022
Denis
can we have some figures
May 26, 2022
You can look up figures just as well as I can.
May 25, 2022
More people in NI support parties that are not Unionist – and that’s a fact
More people in NI support the protocol than are anti protocol – most see it as being good for the economy – ie. ‘being part of UK and yet having access to the Single Market’ – the ones who disagree are the DUP types who have always disagreed with everything anyway for old fashioned political reasons rather than from good economic sense
May 25, 2022
This very useful article has just appeared:
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/05/25/the-irish-border-deal-that-could-have-been/
“The Irish border deal that could have been”
“There have always been solutions to the Brexit border problem. The EU just chose to ignore them.”
But not just the EU, also Theresa May and then Boris Johnson, because both of whom accepted the lie from George Osborne and the Treasury that it was essential to get a special trade deal with the EU:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/05/22/ministers-and-whitehall-culture/#comment-1320087
May 25, 2022
The PM was compelled to agree a deal with the EU by the Benn Burt Surrender Act. Mrs May and Cameron weren’t.
May 26, 2022
“The Benn Burt Surrender Act” was in fact an Act of Parliament. The highest form of law known in the UK. I understood the point of Brexit was to ensure that in future what Parlaiment wants, Parliament gets. But it seems you only agree with the sovereignty of Parlaiment when it does things you like. You have no principles
May 26, 2022
The Benn Burt Act was rammed through Parliament in record time, illegitimately, and facilitated by a bent Speaker. It is they who had no principles.
May 26, 2022
Illegitimately? You must be kidding: This was not secondary legislation, this was an Act of Parliament that went through all the required stages in the HoC, HoL, HoC and Royal Assent (see bills.parliament.uk âEuropean Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019â)
Are you in love with Boris, dear? You seem to be able to find him all sorts of excuses.
May 27, 2022
Rose, “rammed through Parliament” means “passed by a majority in parliament”. Glad to help
May 27, 2022
An Act of Parliament takes many months when the due processes are observed. Even with a thumping majority. Observe the time it is taking to get the various bits of HO legislation through. The Surrender Act was rammed through each House in a day and overrode the Royal Prerogative. It was done by what came to be known as seizing the Government order paper. It could not have been done without a bent Speaker’s illegitimate collusion. That meant that for the first time, Parliament had arrogated to itself the role of the Executive.
Parliament is there to scrutinise the Executive but not to be the Executive. How can 650 MPs be the Cabinet with the Speaker as Prime Minster? And without a proper constitutional process effecting that momentous change?
If the Government loses its majority and then Parliament loses confidence in the Government, there is supposed to be a vote of no confidence; and if the Government falls, there is a general election and a new government is formed on the back of the result. These unprincipled remainiacs refused to do that. They would not face the electorate and they would not abide by the rules of Parliament either. Eventually, the Liberals cut and run because they were confident Mrs Swinson was going to become PM, and the SNP followed because they wanted to get the election in before the Salmond trial, so the illegitimate activity in the Traitors’ Parliament of 2017-19 eventually came to an end. But they had done the damage that they intended. They had kept us hobbled by the EU.
May 25, 2022
Why cannot this Government get a move on?
Either get rid of Northern Ireland now (at a saving of billions and as a device to hamper the Irish Republic for decades to come) or smash the Evil Empire’s evil antics by passing the legislation proposed by B. Jenkin. Now would be the perfect timing, with the E.E. being without a latter day Schieffen Plan: it could not cope with the U.K. and President Putin.
May 25, 2022
Re. a “latter day Schieffen Plan” – I mean of course one for trade wars, not military conflict.
May 25, 2022
I completely agree with your tweet, SJR: ‘Most important the U.K. fills our fields with more crops.’
But who else does? The prevailing belief in Wokingham, unfortunately, is to fill them with more houses.
May 25, 2022
I suspect severe action on this like another deadline. Yawn !
May 25, 2022
“Labour would be wise to remember their support for this policy…” – true, but with it hypocrisy comes first often enough, alas.
May 25, 2022
It is pretty clear the EU won’t budge on this issue.
Therefore, enough of the talk and threats of ‘tearing up the Ireland protocol’.
Just get on with it!
May 25, 2022
There is no threat to tear up the protocol, that is just an invention by EU supporters and the media.
Liz Truss in the Irish Times today:
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/liz-truss-the-problems-of-the-northern-ireland-protocol-are-baked-into-the-text-1.4887207
“Our proposed solution will ease frictions in GB-NI trade, protect the Single Market and the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. It does not mean ripping up the Protocol, but it does mean changes to the Protocol itself so that it is achieving its aims of supporting the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland and the delicate balance created by the Belfast Agreement.”
May 25, 2022
I agree Mark, put the export department those people hired to help people export to sort out the paperwork for people in the UK to send goods to Northern Ireland and fast, encourage workshops to teach them how to do it and get the passes and the government having screwed this up should pay to get it set up, once set up and all the checks good then they could export to the EU too.
Then the UK needs to get its act together on just accepting all incoming imports from the EU unquestioned.
May 25, 2022
Biden would be better served by asking why the EU, and Scholz in particular, aren’t properly implementing agreed sanctions on Putin and Russia which will lead to people actually dying.
May 25, 2022
If we are to court a trade war with the EU the govt will need to move decisively to make the UK more competitive. At the moment with a few happy exceptions we are moving in the opposite direction – more tax, more regulation, more dirigisme. A very cautious approach to trade deals. Etc. If it’s the plan to continue the leftist drift I’d suggest a more cautious approach. Up to Conservative MPs. But if you talk the talk you need to walk the walk. Otherwise it will be another example of a brexit blow-up for no benefit.
May 25, 2022
Boris Johnson knows full well that the Protocol isn’t working properly, so why hasn’t he scrapped it yet? The answer can only be because he is either a COWARD who doesn’t dare stand up to the UK’s enemies (the EU and the US Democrats) or he is a TRAITOR who actually favours the EU over the UK. Or both. The point is that neither cowardice nor treachery can be cured. So the only solution is to replace Johnson with a leader who is both resolute and patriotic.
The logic of what I am saying is unassailable. So why haven’t patriotic MPs sent their letters in to Brady? And specifically, the ERG, who are supposed to care about achieving a proper Brexit. It’s all very well them asking Boris to act, but they are the ones who are not acting! The ERG is as useless as Boris himself. The Conservative Party is frankly unelectable. I will vote Reform UK and if Labour get in by default then so what? I’d rather be stabbed in the front by Labour than in the back by the Tories.
May 25, 2022
@ X-Tory ” So the only solution is to replace Johnson with a leader who is both resolute and patriotic.” – and where did you get this taste for luxury? We have not been blessed with one of those for thirty-two years now.
May 25, 2022
+1
May 25, 2022
” so why hasnât he scrapped it yet?”
Because he hasn’t had permission to do so.
May 25, 2022
Given his enthusiasm for the WEF and other globalists I believe your second option to be the truth.
May 25, 2022
What the Sue Gray Report clearly shows is that Johnson, his Aides and Civil Servants (as well as Handcock and Sunak) knew full well that Covid wasn’t a serious danger to most of us; they systematically lied to us for 18 months because there is no way they would have carried on like that if they genuinely believed it was a serious as they made out.
They made draconian laws, with no democratic oversight whatsoever, which they enforced via punitive fines and an evil Psy Ops campaign which has led to a serious mental health crisis …. not least amongst children. We have a wrecked economy and millions of lives ruined ….. because they lied and thought the laws didn’t apply to them.
Now that the Gray Report has been released showing the extent of the socialising which went on I’m afraid any Conservative MP who doesn’t demand Johnson’s resignation is proving they are also devoid of integrity.
May 25, 2022
Or else, Donna, they feel grateful to Johnson, as I do, for not imposing draconian restrictions and a continued psy ops campaign from last Christmas onwards. The medical establishment and their media stooges were baying for another lockdown to deal with ‘Omicron’, remember? Whatever his other failings, at least Johnson stood firm against it. By the end of January we were almost the freest nation in Europe as regards Covid restrictions. Let’s not forget that.
May 25, 2022
I knew it was all a lie and said so many times on this site. The moment that they stated to move the goal posts and to keep the lockdown.
May 25, 2022
Donna, Boris originally didnât want to lock down, lock down as harshly as sage and the unions wanted, or for as long as all those advisors and union workforces expected and demanded, do you remember France insisting, the school insisting they closed, I do. It was the NHS and care homes that didnât want people coming into wards potentially infecting them and quite rightly they were protected.
The people working in Downing Street were all working together all the time, regardless of whether packets of sandwiches were bought to say goodbye to a leaving member of staff, the wine is wrong but it appears it has been going on, drinking alcohol on duty, in Downing St. for a long time. Personally that is the punishment I think Boris should apply to the entire operation and get rid of alcohol on duty ban it from tomorrow in all workspaces other than the private homes.
A majority are fearful of the Ukraine war (our involvement, the repercussions, the loss in the Ukraine, the lack of support of the EU), immigration, monkeypox, rising energy bills, rising national insurance bills for a couple of months to giving cover to this petty problem and to save his skin is now getting out of hand. Serious MPs like Sir John need to instruct no 10 to get a grip and quick. Cummings did warn Boris that the CS in no 10 were out to get him and were out of control, the people taking photos of him with a glass in hand toasting goodbye and thank you, having these late night boozing sessions all in order to set up the boss for a coup de grĂące âheâs lost respectâ, âheâs lost trustâ. Itâs not the partygate it is failing to keep his manifesto promises, Sunak needs to sort tax and his warnings about corporation tax up high in a couple of years to stop investment now what the hell are the Tories playing around at.
May 25, 2022
I think that Boris was personally scared by his own covid experience, which made him an easy target for the lockdown enthusiasts in SAGE and perhaps others who egged them on and relished the sense of power they had over the populace. As to the goings on in No. 10 itself, it seems that the rumours of Boris’ involvement were greatly exaggerated by the media keen to use it as an excuse to try to unseat him, but that standards within the civil service appear to be somewhat below what we might expect of them. It does rather confirm the impression that they are not of the calibre of previous generations of civil servants.
Perhaps Boris should have recused himself from the covid debates but it seems that there were other cabinet members all too keen to push the totalitarian buttons. The issue now is whether he can turn around and deal with the cost of living crisis properly, which would entail abandoning net zero policies in order to promote a competitive lower cost energy market. Since this is really existential, if he cannot, he should be replaced.
May 25, 2022
‘And in that respect it looks like a windfall tax coming in. If so purely political and an appalling message to large corporations who might be thinking of re locating here.’
Do corporations want to come here to get windfalls and expect to get them?
May 25, 2022
Do you know what, Otto I think the Tories are only too happy to have a windfall tax. Look at all the money they are getting in from VAT, taxes and duties, especially now prices are going up. Problem is, how to get passed the electorate and Tory MP’s ? I know, let Labour propose it, see how it sits with the electorate and, if all seems OK, go for it.
May 25, 2022
For the last 6 to 9 months we have had a ”gona-do-government” with lots of ideas, many new plans and proposed legislation to cut free from the EU and the ECJ so that we can build on the advantages of Brexit but so far absolute ZERO implementation.
Something or some people are holding everything up and in the meantime the Media are setting the agenda with the despicable quislings in the BBC’s news department leading the way to bring this country to its knees.
We have the Sue Gray report which has added a bit of flesh to what we already knew but no new startling revelations. So now is the time for the PM and his team to resolve the NI Protocol, channel immigration, energy security and the rise in the cost of living with the same urgency that they over came all problems of the pandemic.
We have heard all the plans now put them into practice
May 25, 2022
The EU seems to be hardening its position supported by US politicians and heads of EU member states like Mark Rutte.
The EU now appears to be giving the U.K. the traditional run around as they did with Greece. Ireland says the U.K. should be “pragmatic” and negotiate with the EU. However the EU negotiator says he does not have a mandate to negotiate other than on minor technical matters that won’t restore Stormont. The EU Council, who could give a new negotiating mandate, only say they are supporting a member state (Ireland) over a non-member (U.K.). The US is aping Dublin’s position which amounts to ignoring one of the two communities in Northern Ireland despite Dublin being a signatory to the Belfast agreement that supposedly commits them to backing cross-community support for constitutional changes in Northern Ireland. Maybe the U.K. should take Dublin to court for breaking international law when Simon Coveneny says Unionists should be ignored despite him being foreign minister of a state that signed the Belfast Agreement.
There will be no peaceful resolution of this matter unless the U.K. unilaterally puts measures in place that can be agreed by the DUP and Sinn Fein. The EU only cares about causing disruption in the U.K. at no expense to itself which can be used to encourage GH alignment with EU law. The Dublin government only cares about wrapping itself in Green to outdo Sinn Fein in annexing Northern Ireland.
The immediate problem remains the wishy-washy language from the Remain-supporting foreign secretary about “not shying away” from doing something. I don’t want to hear what she won’t do. She needs to take action immediately similar to Turkey in telling EU member states they cannot join NATO until Turkey gets what it wants from them. In our case Sweden and Finland should be blocked from NATO until the NIP is replaced and Stormont restored.
May 27, 2022
What a load of absolute rubbish
May 30, 2022
Bb, +1
May 25, 2022
Self preservation and self promotion is the only thing that now drives the Nationalistic SNP, the snide Tories and filth Labour. All else will be sacrificed to protect Oxbridge and Marxist grifters and their careers including Northern Ireland, the UK, freedom and liberty
As my mother always says ‘they all piss in the same pot’ and she ain’t wrong
May 26, 2022
I have a somewhat tongue-in-cheek letter in the Belfast News Letter today:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/a-question-for-irish-politicians-to-put-to-their-us-visitors-3709265
“I wonder: have politicians in the Irish Republic explained to the visiting US politicians that it is their US-style âchlorinatedâ chicken, and their US âhormone-treatedâ beef, which are most often cited as potentially a serious threat to the integrity of the EU single market and the health of EU citizens, and it is partly to ensure that such questionable US products will never cross the open land border into the Republic that Northern Ireland must be kept under strict EU rules? It would be great to see how that went down with them.”