During his brief  morning stop in Northern Ireland on the way to his three day stay in the Republic of Ireland the President could have held out a hand of friendship to the Unionist community. He could have  said on reflection he had been hasty to encourage an EU/UK deal, as he now saw that one on the wrong terms alienated the Unionist community and undermined  the Good  Friday Agreement. He could have pledged to ask the EU to change their stance to reduce the risk of damaging NIâs place in the UK as well as burdening UK trade between GB and NI with too many  barriers. The deal done has not resolved the problems. it has destabilised NI by re opening constitutional issues that the GFA had put to rest.
Instead he pretended there was no real issue, just unreasonable Unionists. He was not able to have a celebratory banquet for 25 years of the GFA. He could not make a speech to Stormont as it cannot sit. The original ideas behind the visit were cancelled so the NI visit was shortened.
The Prime Minister should  have used the brief encounter to start work on restoring Stormont by engaging the President in the  need to get the EU to change its stubborn and unhelpful stance. He could have made the Unionist case to balance the Republican case implicit in the Presidentâs words and deeds.
He did not do so. He seemed to go along with the idea that the Unionists should accept the EU/Republic of Ireland settlement and live with EU law making in their part of the UK. It was a bad missed opportunity, a tragedy for our country.
April 13, 2023
The tragedy for our country is the duplicitous Teresa May Government & HOC. That twarted the Brexit vote by delivering a deal that favoured EU not the British people. That wrong can never be righted unless we have politicians in place who love & respect the UK above the EU gravy train! Sad but true!
April 13, 2023
It is the case that mrs Mayâs backstop and then the hung parliamentâs surrender act hobbled the U.K. govt in negotiations. But something doesnât quite stack up in all of this. It appears from polls that c. 2/3 of the population of NI support the Windsor framework, including a good number of unionists. If itâs the case as Sir John says here that the EU and Ireland are breaching the GFA then why not start a legal action? Itâs an international treaty after all.
I think the Windsor framework was probably the best that could be done against the background we had. Itâs clearly far from ideal but it would be best to try to make it work and focus on stopping a Labour govt.
April 13, 2023
The WF may work out fine, but the problematical aspect is that it cannot be wound up legally by the UK (whereas the current protocol can be suspended by both parties), but the EU’s commitments under it (green lanes etc.) may be suspended on their side. That makes it clearly and obviously an unequal agreement. An unequal agreement when the UK left the EU was (with No Deal a practical impossibility) somewhat inevitable. An unequal agreement in this case, with the threat of the NIP bill, and the UK being sovereign over NI, was by no means a foregone conclusion, and must be seen as a failure to negotiate effectively with the EU by Sunak, either due to lack of aptitude or a deliberately osequious approach.
The way forward on NI for me is clear. Under the guise of protecting the EU single market, the UK must implement a de facto customs border between NI and the Republic – sensors that weigh and scan vehicles, the ability to intercept suspicious traffic from stations within NI. Once this is in place, ostensibly to protect the Single Market from UK market imports to NI, the UK will have the freedom to withdraw NI from the Single Market if it so desires, or more likely, to see a gradual loosening of UK/NI trade.
April 13, 2023
Sensors at the land border are not as necessary as a new UK law to prohibit the carriage of unsuitable goods across the border into the Irish Republic. That new UK law which was envisaged in the July 2021 Command Paper and recently recommended by Lord Lilley, with export licences:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2023/04/13/what-the-pm-and-president-should-have-said-in-ulster/#comment-1382653
April 13, 2023
Ah! Polls provided by ? Thatâs decisive then. The GFA was not based on a majority decision – or the Unionists at the time would have ousted the Republicans. It was to secure the positions of both sides regardless of the %.
April 13, 2023
You’re correct but it’s actually a string of untruths from Cameron’s “we will leave the EU the day after a Leave Vote” to May’s stupid saying “Brexit is Brexit” while allowing anti-British sequencing and cave-in. With friends like this the country doesn’t even need enemies like Biden to look daft and weak.
April 13, 2023
@Jude +1
And still ongoing
April 13, 2023
Apparently members of her local association are oblivious of the damage she did and want her to stand again.
April 13, 2023
Given that nobody has come up with any meaningful benefit arising from the UK leaving the EU, apart from a few tax dodgers, it was never going to be possible to make a deal that would benefit the British people.
What did you think we would get?
April 13, 2023
Jude, the deal we have with the EU is not Mrs May’s, it is Mr Johnson’s. It is the oven ready deal which the British people voted for at the last General Election, and which the Conservative party implemented. If this deal is so very bad – and Sir John Redwood certainly thinks it is very bad – then Jude, you should be asking the Conservative party why they agreed it
April 13, 2023
The trouble was that the Ovens regulator was turned up to maximum, causing the contents to be be unpalatable.
April 13, 2023
Asking a question to which we already know the answer?
April 13, 2023
Leaving.
The agreement is bad because politicians in the House voted that we must have a deal at any cost, we were not allowed to walk away without a deal, no matter that 98% of the Worlds trade is completed under WTO rules !
When you have so many, and the the majority in Parliament agreeing to this Benn introduced Bill, is it any wonder that we did not get even the sight of a reasonable deal ?
May made an agreement behind the back of David Davis (our/her so called negotiator at the time), doubled the amount of so called compensation from ÂŁ20 Billion to ÂŁ40 Billion and gave the EU rights over the NI backstop.
Under the circumstances Boris had his hands tied behind his back.
I am no fan of Boris, but he was placed in a position by our Parliament that he had to agree to anything the EU would offer us.
Thus we are where we are, if you want to apportion blame, then complain to all those who voted for the Ben Bill to be approved.
April 13, 2023
Yes, I’m afraid the Tories have completely betrayed Brexit, betrayed Britain and betrayed the British people.
I accept that, because the so-called ‘Traitors’ Parliament’ passed the Surrender Act, Boris had no option but to accept the oppressive terms set out by the EU – BUT after he won the election he could and should have immediately torn this up and demanded either a new agreement which was in the UK’s interests or simply have gone forward on WTO terms. He should have made it clear that the previous agreement was forced upon him under duress and therefore had no validity. His failure to take this decisive action was a complete betrayal of Britain and that is why I utterly condemn him.
The truth is that he simply didn’t care enough. He has never cared about anything but himself, and wanted to simply enjoy his time as PM, thinking that nothing else, not even the betrayal of Britain, mattered. He thought he could glibly brush this aside and get people to forget it while they fawned over his amusing speeches. We are now stuck with a Brexit that is NOT what we voted for and we will have to wait for a patriotic government willing to challenge the EU before this calamity will be fixed. And that will NOT be a Conservative government. The Tories are the problem, NOT the solution!
April 13, 2023
As soon as Boris got the majority he came to Parliament with the Internal Market Bill to undo the damage of the “bad deal rather than no deal”. It was badly mauled in both Houses by his own side. His later attempt, the NIP Bill, lived longer than his premiership and passed through the Commons unamended, only to be thrown away by the Usurper at the behest of the EU. Boris did try, and that is why he was defenestrated, as was Miss Truss. It is a pity so much of the black propaganda against both of them was effective.
April 14, 2023
I’m sorry Rose but this is nonsense. You don’t sign a bad agreement and then try to correct it – you don’t sign it in the first place! Besides, the Bills you are talking about only dealt with GB-NI trade. The UK-EU TCA is fundementally flawed in a thousand other ways too! What about our fishermen, or the payments to the EU, or the biased trading arrangements, or the requirement to remain in the ECHR, etc? No, Boris betrayed us all by signing the TCA and the Protocol. He cannot and will not be forgiven.
April 14, 2023
Your vengeful feelings should be directed at the Traitors’ Parliament which passed the illegitimate Surrender Act. It was that which compelled him to sign up to a bad deal rather than no deal. They knew what they were doing: binding us in to servitude.
April 14, 2023
‘The tragedy for our country is the duplicitous Teresa May Government & HOC’ – the tragedy for our country is that in order to implement Brexit (a GREAT idea) properly you need 3 key ingredients that we were missing:
1) PLAN. A proper detailed, business-like plan to implement Brexit
2. LEADER. A strong, genuinely pro Brexit leader to implement Brexit
3) MONEY. Plenty of money in the country’s coffers to pay for the transition to proper, full independence from the EU / SINGLE MARKET.
Oh, yeah, and maintaining strong, healthy relations with the EU OUTSIDE the EU / THE SINGLE MARKET (in terms of healthy ties in Business, Culture and Security) without insulting them or anyone who voted to remain. That’s just PRAGMATIC good sense to create as much GOOD WILL about Brexit as possible (not just good manners) and to get people neutral about it to be EXCITED about it – to capture their IMAGINATIONS instead of berating them. Man is his own worst enemy – including in politics.
April 14, 2023
I genuinely believe Brexit is a GREAT idea but unless one is PRAGMATIC / REALISTIC about the challenges then one is just slipping into self-indulgent, sentimental FANTASY. Not as black and white as this. But something like.
April 13, 2023
“The Prime MinisterâŠâŠâŠâŠ. was far too busy fawning over Biden and posing for the cameras to do anything meaningful to represent the interests of NI as a constituent part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
We had to watch an (unelected, no mandate) Puppet Leader of a so-called Conservative and Unionist Party effectively transferring the governance of NI to the EU on the say-so of a senile old bigot from America, and then rolling over to have his tummy tickled.
Sunak is a disgrace.
April 13, 2023
I second that! Your every word, we need to stand together and rebuff the EU.
Why are our politicians frightened of fighting and putting the EU back where it belongs. Out of our lives.
April 13, 2023
@Donna
An outspoken, but understandable reply. Clearly, in his dotage Biden has that American notion of the romantic struggle for Irish independence which had its roots in the Great Famine of 1845-1852.
Even the Provo’s terrorist leader Gerry Adams said recently that Republicans should give the Unionist politicians time to adjust. I’m surprised Biden hasn’t found time to have breakfast with him
April 13, 2023
Donna:
Mexico shares a border with USA and is its 2nd largest trade partner.
So perhaps President Biden should live with Mexico lawmaking in that part of the USA.
Mexico attracts high demand, supplying half a trillion dollars worth of drugs to USA citizens coast to coast.
Many US politicians depend on Mexico imports to get higher and others dodder.
April 13, 2023
@Donna +1
Yup, a photo opportunity it avoids the job he elected himself to do. Meanwhile the Treasury, the ever more remain BoE and so on run rings around this shower and get rewarded for failure.
April 13, 2023
+1Jude
Also, until terrorism went out of favour in the US after 9/11, they were supporting the IRA.
April 13, 2023
Indeed he is. As is the Party members who sit idly by allowing the EU to roll all over this Country and take no action against the useless 5th Columnists’ who are in charge of all our health and public services. Enough. We don’t want the unelected Snake or the charlatan Hunt who is deliberately destroying our economy whilst dolling out my taxes to everyone who chips up here. Why should the English take to the back of the queue in their own Country? Time for radical change, we need Reform!
April 13, 2023
Sunak to Biden âwhat do you want me to say and do during your visitâ; âjust sit there and do nothing if you ever want to settle in the USAâ
April 13, 2023
Sunak should simply have told the Britain-hating US president to mind his own business.
Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and therefore the SOLE responsibility of the UK government.
We don’t tell the US how to run Alaska, and they should keep their nose out of Northern Ireland.
As for the Belfast Agreement, I am heartily SICK of the fawning over this BETRAYAL of a part of our country.
Firstly, it was agreed by a Labour prime minister, so the Tories should AUTOMATICALLY oppose it, on the basis that Labour are the ENEMIES of britain and the British people and the only way to fight Labour is to REVERSE everything they do. But as we know, the Tories are really socialists in drag.
Secondly, the undeniable fact is that if it hadn’t been for IRA violence this document would never have been agreed. It is, therefore, by definition, a concession (if not surrender) to the terrorists. Why would anyone support the idea of making concessions to terrorists, rather than eliminating them? Only cowards and traitors would do so.
Let’s scrap the Belfast Agreement, and the Protocol, and just treat Northern Ireland like any other part of this ONE COUNTRY – the UNITED Kingdom.
April 13, 2023
Good morning.
Is there a Presidential election on the horizon ?
Sir John
The US President’s visit to Ireland is nothing but a political gambit to shore up the US Irish vote, as his approval ratings are tanking along with the economy. Even his own party wants rid of the man and the problems he and his son bring.
We played a poor hand even poorly.
When US President Bill Clinton allowed Gerry Adams to fund raise in the US, the then PM, John Major, gave the US President and government the cold shoulder treatment. Clinton and the Irish government got the message, and Clinton would later go on to say he regretted the decision.
That is how far we have fallen. Even John Major had more backbone back then than all the other jellyfish we have today.
If our kind host allows :
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/major-was-furious-with-clinton-for-granting-adams-a-visa-1.3738286
April 13, 2023
Mark B
Yep, afraid too many Irish Americans who have an important vote in American elections, for Biden to worry about the UK.
History not on our side on this one., and with the USA holding NATO together our present Prime Minister would never push hard enough, much more simple to just take more money from the taxpayer to fund all mistakes.
April 13, 2023
Did anyone really expect the POTUS to actually do anything for NI as he has made his position very clear on the island at every opportunity.
Between the two of them they have bigger fish to fry which means NI is not very high on their to do list.
You are totally correct that our PM could have done more but in his mind he has sorted out the problem, for him it is the only solution.
Until the NI problems are totally sorted it will continue to play into the hands those wanting to rejoin the EU. We are perceived as weak and to keep pushing the remainers sense capitulation and victory. The sooner others start the leaving process as several polls highlight real discontent the better.
Too many basic mistakes are increasing everyday in the governance of this country. The globalist sit back and gently smile and rub their hands together. They are in for the long haul to achieve their goals.
April 13, 2023
@turboterrier I am happy when politicians we cant vote on, keeping their noses out of our business. More worrying is those that we do pay take the responsibility their job affords them refuses to put the real UK at the top of their list and refuses to manage where all the money they are steeling from us is going.
April 13, 2023
Turbo, we are perceived as weak because we are weak. Leaving the EU means we are one country on its own, instead of leading a bloc of 28. You Brexiters seem amazed that the world doesn’t seem interested in what we think. Please realise it is 2023, not 1850
April 13, 2023
We are better on our own Lemming, rather than being lumped together in the eu ready for the global bullies to take over!
Always keep an eye and protect your back!
April 13, 2023
The EU is a Franco German protection racket. We never led it. They wouldn’t even let our services, the main thing we do, in their Single Market. The EU exists mainly to protect German manufacturing and French agriculture.
April 13, 2023
Grand Master Plan
April 13, 2023
good Morning,
Sir J, why do you persist in expecting Biden to behave in a constructive and diplomatic way. It appeared from the video he didn’t recognise Mr Sunak, pushing him out the way to greet a man in uniform. This is understandable given the shelf-life of UK PM’s.
Biden loves Ireland, and wants a united Eire; Biden loves the EU, thinks that a European central government for all of Europe makes a lot of sense, and he wouldn’t have to remember so many names.
Let him dream of his beautiful, imaginary Eire, where he might rest and leave the cares of the world behind. Dotard, no, surely too harsh.
April 13, 2023
Not a single one of our CONSERVATIVE Prime Ministers since the Brexit vote has shown any interest in defending the Union with Northern Ireland or in adopting any of the practical solutions advanced to meet the entirely manufactured concerns of the EU or preventing EU legislation applying to Northern Ireland. It seems that they donât really care, and not wishing to offend the EU has been their overriding interest. We have effectively lost Northern Ireland now. It is more than a tragedy for our country: it is a shameful disgrace.
April 13, 2023
David Ruddock – surely you mean not a single PM in over a Generation has shown any interest in the UK period. They seem to think the office is presidential and about ego and photo opportunists, not managing the UK for and on behalf of the UK.
April 13, 2023
I fear you’re correct David, but our PMs haven’t the bottle to say openly that they’re happy to see NI go, they’d perfer to see it taken awayway
April 13, 2023
Correct on all points apart from “We have effectively lost Northern Ireland now”. That would be a more gradual process, a drift apart as the recurrent choice was between regulatory divergence of Northern Ireland from Great Britain or regulatory alignment between the whole of the UK and the EU. And all of this is because Theresa May went along with what the CBI wanted and accepted the nonsense about the land border that was being pushed out by the Irish government, and that made it necessary to replace her with the Great Charlatan Boris Johnson who only cared about getting his pathetic little “Canada style” free trade deal. It is indeed an utter disgrace and it could make me think that we would be better off being ruled from Brussels than by Tories in London.
April 13, 2023
Sunak is making too many bad missed opportunities. Unfortunately with Starmer waiting in the wings it won’t get much better. Everyone I talk to is asking how much worse can things get? The solutions to many of our problems is obvious to most half intelligent people yet they are ignored by those in charge in favour of virtue signalling and trying to appease the rest of the world. It’s as though the very people they are supposed to serve are not important. None of them needs to worry. They all have enough grubby cash to clear off leaving us to pick up the pieces. What a farce.
April 13, 2023
Fedupsouthener – In part I would suggest that it is what they call themselves âthe political classâ that is rotten to the core. The unfortunate problem is that all the consciousness, quality MPâs are suppressed by their âgang leadersâ. As it is not loyalty to the Country that is demanded or even expected, but loyalty to your leader to keep inability in power at all costs. For the Conservatives it is CCH that is aiding this corruption, and there is no one in the Conservative Party can address the problem
April 13, 2023
To see child Sunak being pushed out of the way by docile Biden was hilarious but more tragic was Biden’s endorsement of a united Ireland and the dissolution of the United Kingdom.
All the British left have worked so hard for is now coming true thanks to the appeasement of the slime Tories. Yes John, the party YOU belong to. None of what see today in this dump of a country can happen without the say so of the party in government
April 13, 2023
Did Biden endorse a united ireland? I missed that.
April 13, 2023
No Biden didnât, only if you read a certain type of websites can one get this idea.
And have you noticed how Sir John dangled the âunionistâ qualificative when what he really means is the DUP. But what can you expect?
Reply Itâs not just the DUP amongst Unionists who oppose the Windsor Agreement
April 13, 2023
Sorry to disagree Dom but it is not just Conservatives, the Lab/Lib twins would sink the Great Great Britain and Northern Ireland ship as quickly as a blink! They are untrustworthy!
April 13, 2023
@DOM – The Conservative and Unionist Party, just as with the UK as whole this Conservative Government is trashing it, maliciously trashing it. Labourâs stalking horse runs the Conservatives. That’s why we have socialist policies and politics from this Government not conservative ones
April 13, 2023
When I think of the empire and history we built, the literature & invention we gave to the world, the two world wars we won âŠour current politicians and leaders are so weak they crave world acceptance, media praise and the UN gold star âŠhow we have fallen, maybe we should spilt the kingdom
April 13, 2023
A tragedy for our country Sir John?
Since when do we run our own Country ?
The die was cast after the second world war and we are now putty in the hands of supranational entities, big business and minority pressure groups.
What has happened in N.Ireland is not an oversight, or a trick of the EU it has been done by and with collusion of what is supposed to be a British government with a clear mandate to act on behalf of all its constituent parts.
It is a government in keeping with all others since the end of WW2 that is carrying out the managed decline.
Of course the Unionists will get the blame for all and any problems that now arise.
April 13, 2023
Michelle, and yet the people re-elected Mrs May in her area. They re-elected Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper. People who turned their backs on the UK and put this train in motion.
What’s coming is total and utter capitulation.
The Scottish are allowed to be proud of Scotland
The Welsh were and are encouraged to be proud of Wales
The English… well, we can’t even be allowed to celebrate our national day; it is to be extinguished along with many other English pastimes from Barn dances celebrated at schools and maypoles at school (now only posh villages try to hold on to the tradition) to join in it has to be taught in school. They started small, then get rid of the pub culture and the meeting of men; the duck ponds have to have ugly fences all around, no circular connection so people can walk around, the powers that rule us want to extinguish bonfire night, less funding of traditional festivals and true excellence of classical traditional singing and orchestras (to be replaced with failing modern projects to suit our new cultures moving in and taking over). Our new modern towns have nothing of beauty, no clock towers or even nice planting displays, they are just rent gathering areas for preferred areas of spending. Meanwhile, we are encouraged to worry about Northern Ireland, don’t look here, nothing to see.
The Northern Irish, the UK government, and the UK Lords gave up on them long ago. Biden knows it’s only a matter of time until Starmer sells them down the river.
April 13, 2023
Was it me or did Biden virtually ignore Sunak? Sunak looked like a child trying to impress his teacher. Embarrassing or what on his part…damn right rude on Bidens.
April 13, 2023
Biden is yesterdays man. No one is interested in what he has to say.
Fishy hoped he would gain some kudos from his visit bur it just demonstrated how out of his depth he was.
You’ve tried to sell out Northern Ireland to Brussels and all I can say is thank the Lord for the Unionist party.
Nothing this government does is beneficial to us the taxpayer.
April 13, 2023
+many
Agree 100%
Cringe-worthy in the extreme.
And have you seen that strange vid re the soon-to-be-thrust-upon-us CDC?
Bizarre!
April 13, 2023
I.W., I agree Biden is yesterday’s man, but he’s saying what tomorrow’s man will say. A non-maverick President doesn’t get to pull the strings. A maverick one gets impeached and then indicted.
April 13, 2023
The Biden visit consumed much time, effort, resource and cost to deal with.
Yet what useful purpose did it or its waste serve?
Much of the reporting records a stream of gaffes.
April 13, 2023
I don’t entirely agree with you on this, Sir John. It is absolutely not the job of the president of a foreign country to make interfering comments on our internal affairs. But you are surely right as regards Sunak,who once again showed that he is not really working for our country. This is strange, since his voting record as an MP shows a consistent commitment to Brexit. Perhaps, though, that was when he was free to follow his conscience, and not yet working for his globalist overlords, the ones he hobnobbed with so blatantly at Davos.
April 13, 2023
+1
April 13, 2023
I agree re. Biden. Obama was criticised for his comments in 2016, so surely Biden was right to basically say nothing.
April 13, 2023
What I would have liked them to say is
“We accept that our crimes against the people are unforgivable and that we can no longer continue to support the war against them being waged by the ruling class. We advise everyone to cease supporting the cruel and unjust system that allows the exploitation of them and the planet for the benefit of a tiny elite. We jointly issue resignations and submit ourselves for trial by people’s court.”
April 13, 2023
+many
Oh YES!
Just make certain that it is the people and not a bunch of commies who seize power!
The far, extreme Left has been working on it all for a very long time.
Just that the craven tories wonât face facts.
They thought they could âtame themââŠ.â Bring them into the foldâ
Delusional.
April 13, 2023
Whilst agreeing with your sentiments, it was surely no surprise to find that Biden and Sunak do not. The West is lead by people working to a higher agenda who care nothing for the wishes of the people they purport to serve and represent.
April 13, 2023
I heard it said, with some ridicule, that only 23 MPs voted against this Windsor agreement. You were one of them Sir John. Have we now lost the battle to keep the EU and the ECJ out of Britainâs affairs?
April 13, 2023
It was never a battle, just a series of minor retreats demonstrating the willingness of our leaders to avoid confrontation by backing away.
April 13, 2023
A few more abstained but as Labour were supporting it it was going threw anyway. The Windsor Framework is appalling. Still more than voted against the mad Net Zero agenda or the Climate Change Act.
April 13, 2023
through!
April 13, 2023
Worse, fewer than 23 MPs are prepared to articulate a realistic alternative.
I hesitate to say that there are none at all, but that may be the case.
And I know of only one member of the House of Lords who has done so, Lord Lilley, here:
https://tinyurl.com/2ax7nnn7
“However, I am pretty sure that in the long term, the Northern Ireland protocol, with or without the Windsor Framework, will prove unsustainable. Any solution must ensure that there continues to be no infrastructure and no checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic. But it surely means that we must also ensure that there are no checks and infrastructure at the border, or non-border, between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I can see only one way that that can be achieved while maintaining the integrity of the European single market, which is a perfectly legitimate objective of the European Union that we wish to respect. It is using the powers – which I, as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, had under the predecessor Act to the Export Control Act 2002 – to make it an offence to export to the EU anything that does not meet its standards. We can do so using the SPIRE system, which makes it user-friendly.
Normally, export controls are not implemented by checks at the border but, when there is suspicion of wrongdoing, via inspections at the companyâs headquarters, warehouse or point of dispatch. We know that this sort of thing can be done: the Republic would not need to monitor the border any more than it has needed to monitor it since it unilaterally introduced controls on imports of coal and other fuels from the EU a few months ago. When people asked, âHow are you going to do that without border infrastructure and controls?â, it said, âOh, weâll do it by a market surveillance mechanism in the shops and outlets in the Republicâ. That is how these things should be done and, in future, could be done.”
The puzzle is why the DUP has not been pushing for this alternative; and as I have been saying for some time now, if unionists in Northern Ireland are not bothered to find a permanent solution, possibly preferring to have a permanent grievance, then why should anybody in England be bothered about their plight?
April 13, 2023
I propose we tax every lorry passing through GB too the republic of ireland ÂŁ35000 for the use of our roads.
For too long the europeans have used our country as a bridge to their extreme area.
Force them to pay up or start ferrying from France. They then can block access to Ulster from the Republic.
April 13, 2023
Only two Conservative and Unionist peers voted against the Windsor Framework/Stormont Brake and Lord Lilley wasn’t one of them – Lords Moylan and Shinkwin, both RCs.
April 13, 2023
At the link given above Lord Lilley said that he would not vote for the fatal amendment but had great sympathy with the position of the DUP. For myself I would have much more sympathy with the position of the DUP if the DUP peers who spoke immediately before and after Lord Lilley had listened to what he said about the alternative of export controls and taken that on board. As I said, as far as I know he is the only one who has articulated that alternative; if Lord Dodds and Lord McCrea had done so I would not now be writing from England trying to get the DUP to publicly adopt his proactive position.
Reply Lilley works with the ERG and is not the only person putting this approach!
April 13, 2023
I can’t see why the UK allows Biden to get involved in our politics. America certainly wouldn’t allow us to be involved in their’s.
We may be out of the EU, but the EU still believes we are still in, and treats us badly as such.
April 13, 2023
When it comes to a border poll for Ireland, perhaps they should include the States of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, which have several times more Irish than NI.
April 13, 2023
I consider the Biden visit to be an insult to the UK. Notwithstanding all our home country political arrangements internationally we are all represented by the Paliment at Westminster London and the head of state the King.
For Biden not to visit the King and or Westminster/ the PM is typical of the US so called Democratic Government just doing want suits it without any thought for others and impact/ fallout (very appropriate word currently). Just striring up trouble and wars where ever it is involved.
The NL set up is not that far removed from that of Taiwan and China. Trump may not be the ideal President for some, but he does respect the UK. It helps that is Mother was from Scotland. I don’t think Biden has any near connections to Ireland, just the Irish voters back in the US.
April 13, 2023
+1
Just cast your mind back to the day when Theresa May MP was PM and poured scorn on the US President. Even Cameron got in on the act.
We had the most pro-UK President in decades and we threw all that potential goodwill back in his face. Now we fawn over an old, metal challenged man who will do and say anything to get re-elected and, who positively hates us.
What is it with you people ?
Disgraceful.
April 13, 2023
You brexiters repeatedly say that the minority of the people of Britain who voted Remain should accept what the other minority – 26% – of them who voted Leave want, or rather, what you claim them to want.
Why do you not take the same view of the minority, unionist position on the protocol in NI then?
Reply Because that would break the Good Friday Agreement which you and Remain claim to support
April 13, 2023
What the DUP demand would break the GFA far more fundamentally, which is just one reason why brexit was always a preposterous idea.
April 13, 2023
It is obvious NLH that either you do not understand that Unionists are not in the minority or you do not respect democracy. The combined numbers of unionist voters ( four different parties of Unionist following) Still out vote Blairs slimy scheme!
April 13, 2023
Yes but they don’t all say no to Stormont
April 13, 2023
You seem to not understand what a majority is Bill.
April 13, 2023
Maybe they should offer compensation to the Unionists and tell them that because of the Irish Sea arrangements they are relieved of the obligation to pay income tax.
After all, if the Act of Union is set aside, what obligation do they have to pay it?
April 13, 2023
As always the Remain camp likes to link leaving the EU vote with Leaving the UK vote.
I am not aware that the Majority in the North of Ireland (NL)want to leave the UK.
Therefore if in the UK it can’t be governed by EU law. A long time ago most people in the UK thought it made sense to have common standards and travel arrangements with our European neighbours. But that was not good enough for the European Politicians who are anti-country autonomy and want a European Super State. Hence why Brexit to get out of a Political union, and not a Trading, Travel, residency / employment Union which the majority were happy with.
April 13, 2023
NI not NL sorry for my Dutch connection in the brain
April 13, 2023
It is not Biden you should be attacking but a weak Sunak..
HMG would have been briefed on his comments before hand. I see no sign of push back so we can assume they met with Sunakâs approval. Why?
Because he gave in to the pressure from Biden to sign the Agreement originally. Now, complaining would have exposed that.
And in other news, maybe something for one of your famous parliamentary questions.
Heat pumps? What will the cost be and timescales to install them in public buildings and council houses and in respect of the latter, will all council tax payers be surcharged?
I guess it will be umpteen billions and everyone has been suspiciously muted on the topic?
April 13, 2023
+1
April 13, 2023
indeed they make little sense for most old buildings or even for many new ones. You should get a little more heat out of them than electricity put in, circa 2 times but electricity is far more expensive than gas so still they cost more to run. Vastly more expensive in capital, depreciation and maintenance terms and less convenient to use. Usually you need larger tepid rads fitting or underfloor to ne efficient. Also slow to heat up so no good for buildings not in continuous use. Often need to upgrade the grid too. As for Sunakâs heated swimming pool this is rather expensive. When the electricity fails you then usually have no heat, light or cooking.
April 13, 2023
Well put, very diplomatic.
Since when has the US worried about the effects on local people, of its destabilising policies? I mean that as a serious question. I think the answer is “a very long time, if ever”.
The US is not an ally of the UK in many ways. The military-industrial complex would have us think otherwise, but we’ve been followers of some disastrous US policies, from Middle East invasions to NATO aggression and expansion. Someone blew up Nordstream 2 and led all of Europe to being more dependent on US gas.
The Biden regime wants an authoritarian, globalist-corporatist world. It probably sees the EU as easier to control than a collection of independent European nation states.
That’s why Macron’s words after meeting Xi infuriated them (he said we shouldn’t blindly follow America). Ursula van der Leyen, who by contrast toed the Biden line at the meeting with Xi was sent packing (she was humiliated by having to go through the regular exit queue at the airport – hilarious to see the look on her face). Macron continued his discussions, after telling the departing EU President that it was a delusion to think Europe could sort out Taiwan, when it couldn’t deal with Ukraine. Good piece on the Jon Paul Liberty Report about the whole thing.
April 13, 2023
I was very fortunate that my posting to NI during the Troubles was cancelled at the last minute because another requirement came up that needed my particular skills. Another member of my unit went instead and had a very difficult time. Some years later, I was in the US visiting the factory of my employer and went for a beer with the guys after work. A woman with a bucket came around the bar collecting for NORAID and my American colleagues all chipped in. After she left I asked them why they had given and it was explained that it was an “Irish thing” – leprechauns and the blarney stone etc.
So I told them about my friend, who amongst other things had arrived on the scene shortly after an IRA ‘punishment’ had occured. I don’t know if they gave the next time that bucket came around but I believe contributions to NORAID dried up after 9/11. Perhaps Americans finally realised what having your fellow citizens murdered on home turf was actually like. I think Joe Biden has romanticised these murderous thugs. The reality of the Republican movement was (and probably still is) much, much nastier.
April 14, 2023
Biden in a speech “I, like all of you, take pride in my Irish ancestry. And as long as I can remember, itâs been sort of part of my soul that Iâve â how Iâve been raised. And, you know, during the times of â of darkness and despair, it always sort of brings light â strength when you think about what my ancestors went through and what weâre going to â through now, and the history that binds us and the values that unite us.”
April 13, 2023
Ps. Cameron made the same mistake thinking we would be impressed by Obamaâs threats.
You have ignored a key point. The political bribe. Give in and we will triple our investment. No different from Westminster. Vote for something you donât agree with and magically money will be invested in your constituency and, on the quiet, an honour might follow.
Itâs the âeveryone can be bought/has a priceâ political view. Nasty.
Reply Biden does not control private investment flows. Will they go to Rep of Ireland with 12.5% Corporation tax or to NI with 25%?
April 13, 2023
+1
April 13, 2023
Sunak was wrong, wrong, wrong to invite the hateful Biden. What did he hope to achieve?
April 13, 2023
A photo op and a pat on the head from Schwab.
April 13, 2023
sounds about right.
April 13, 2023
đđ»got it in One. Well said Donna
April 13, 2023
‘It was a bad missed opportunity, a tragedy for our country.’
The US Irish community was always one of the largest funders of the IRA. Biden has no intention of offering any manner of support to Unionists, instead they support RI and EU over the UK Union. Biden is a tragedy for the US, the UK and the World.
April 13, 2023
So Arlene Foster’s claim the U.S. president “hates the United Kingdom” was incomplete, as so does Mr. Sunak it seems.
Can we not end this farce of pretending Norn Iron has a future with us and save the billions of expense and the hassle of retaining it?
April 13, 2023
I sent a letter in the direction of Arlene Foster yesterday, as follows:
“You comment about the anti-British attitude of President Biden, but it would be more useful for protection of the Union if you could persuade your DUP colleagues to put forward a realistic alternative to the Northern Ireland Protocol/Windsor Framework as a method of protecting the EU Single Market, and get the UK government to commit to running a trial of that system, alongside the protocol system, as a price for the restoration of devolved government.
Essentially the proposal is that even though Brussels and Dublin instantly rejected the suggestion of “mutual enforcement”, with the UK and the EU each applying export controls to protect each other’s market, as advocated by the Centre for Brexit Policy, of which Mr Sammy Wilson is a director, the UK should unilaterally operate its half. Details of how that half could be set up were in this letter published in the Belfast News Letter on December 27 2022:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/thales-shows-way-to-border-solution-3966592
“Thales shows way to border solution”… ”
The DUP seem to think that just saying “no” is enough of an answer, but it is not.
Reply I and my colleagues gave the Uk several good schemes to handle the border issues, but I donât think they even put them to the EU.
April 13, 2023
Well, there would have been no point in putting them to the EU, because the EU would just have said “no”.
That is what happened with the schemes for “dual autonomy” or “mutual enforcement”:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49488844
“EU officials have poured cold water on alternative proposals for the Brexit backstop by a former British European Commission official … One senior EU source told BBC News NI the proposals were “inadequate and not anywhere near the landing zone”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49545492
“… the UUP’s alternative proposals were similar to those put forward in August by former British European Commission official Sir Jonathan Faull … TĂĄnaiste (Irish Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Coveney said on Friday that the British government had suggested no credible alternative to the backstop.”
But, as pointed out in another comment further down the thread which awaits moderation:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2023/04/13/what-the-pm-and-president-should-have-said-in-ulster/#comment-1382638
“… it would be the UK half of mutual enforcement, the UK export controls, which would meet the EU demand for protection of its Single Market, for that purpose it is irrelevant whether or not the EU do their half as well.”
So the UK government would not need the agreement of the EU to introduce export controls alongside the controls mandated by the protocol, the point being to demonstrate that a UK system of export controls on the trickle of goods crossing the open land border into the Irish Republic would do the job of protecting the EU Single Market from significant quantities of unsuitable goods being carried across, and it is not necessary and is in fact completely over the top to have EU controls on all the goods brought into the province from outside, and on all the goods produced in the province, as required by the protocol.
Reply Yes we also offered them unilateral solutions including NI Protocol Bill which passed the Commons with a large majority
April 13, 2023
+1
Time to move on. Give UK Citizenship to those in NI who want it (dual nationality). End the Common Travel Area as it only benefits the RoI and not the UK. And let the RoI and the EU pick up the bill for running the Province.
Saves a lot of trouble and money.
April 13, 2023
For heavens sake! They ARE British with British citizenship! They have NO OTHER CITIZENSHIP. Do you want to throw in Liverpool and Glasgow too? And if not, why not? There are probably majority Irish decent in both. âSave us the bother of paying for them đ€Ż
April 13, 2023
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom – until it’s Citizens agree otherwise.
The way they have been treated as a pawn in the Brexit negotiations is dreadful. This should really have been a “red-line” that was never crossed. I can forgive the various recent Conservative Governments for many things – but not for this – it’s a betrayal of all the pain so many have suffered to bring some kind of peace to NI.
April 13, 2023
Biden dictates about peace whilst exporting war and discord, destabilising countries, inserting puppet governments as in Ukraine. Not forgetting the Bush âwar on terror â after 9/11. Conveniently forgetting the support from the USA for the IRA for the previous 25 years. Not necessarily from the government, but they did look the other way as we were being bombed into final submission. So for a yank to come here and preach peace to those who feel subjugated by agreements out of their control is cringing.
April 13, 2023
I believe that Mr Bâs attitude to the U.K. is pretty much historically consistent for him. Some former Presidents even more so.
Strange how we love the antis and loathe the pros.
And very odd for virtue signallers to behave in such a grudge-bearing way.
Maybe the Special Relationship is a bit tattered around the edges?
April 13, 2023
After listening to Mr Biden’s speech earlier today, I have no doubt that the ‘Special Relationship’ is alive and well, except that it appears to be with the Republic of Ireland and not the UK.
April 13, 2023
Recounted by comedian Georgia Pritchett in her autobiography âŠ
âApparently, Joe Biden’s mom hated England so much she refused to sleep in a bed where the Queen had previously slept in.
Joe Biden’s mother, Catherine Finneganâalso known as Jeanâwas a woman with strong beliefs, and ones she refused to compromise.
So much so that President Biden once revealed the hilarious anecdote of the time his mother visited the UK and spent a night in a hotel where Queen Elizabeth II had previously stayed at. â
April 13, 2023
Give it time.
The Good Friday Agreement never was a DUP favourite. It campaigned against it and didnât stop its opposition after the GFA was approved by the N.Irish people in a massive 71% versus 29% referendum. It took years before there was some working relationship and a proper devolved government.
The DUP, as a shrinking minority still holds a veto over Stormont, also when other parties like the Alliance party grow. In these circumstances it would be democratic to allow a devolved government to be formed by any voluntary coalition having a majority. Otherwise it becomes the DUP holding Stormont to ransom, whereas the large majority of the N. Irish people want a functioning government and approve of the Windsor Framework.
Reply That would require a renegotiation of the GFA!
April 13, 2023
P.S. interesting, these anti Biden comments above. Without the USA there would not have been a GFA at all !
And the GFA brought peace.
April 13, 2023
Really? Peace? You donât visit very often do you?
April 13, 2023
Mr Redwood, you are correct. But how about GFA50 in 25 years? Sectarianism is not sustainable.
Current students are not interested in protestant or catholic.
It is likely that parties like the Alliance will only grow.
The current Sormont formula depending solely on Sinn Fein and DUP is not sustainable and also not very democratic.
April 13, 2023
What is your personal interest in Northern Ireland Peter? Family there? What is it that you want? For the DUP and other unionists to come to heel and become the minority in an enlarged Country? Why not us tell us why this is so interesting to you, you seem to carefully pick the threads you comment on.
April 13, 2023
@a-tracy: I got close family (protestant but far from unionist) in N. Ireland.
As such I’ve often been there since the seventies.
I’ll be going there again next month.
I remember the grim faces of the drummers in the Easter marches (?)
Such a pity! Also young people who have been infected by the elderly.
Should I maybe blame the house of orange? Although, nowhere you’ll find more mingling between catholics and protestants than in the Netherlands.
April 14, 2023
I too have Northern Irish friends, a previous business partner a most lovely man, catholic and loved the UK and the North West of England. What about the IRA do you not consider those young people infected by the elderly? I don’t remember any protestants blowing up English people doing their shopping on our mainland. Northern Ireland is most beautiful which County do you get to visit?
April 14, 2023
People who feel they are on the front line do tend to have grim faces.
At least you understand that not all Protestants are Unionists. Do you also understand that not all Roman Catholics are republicans? And that Roman Catholics vote for the DUP?
April 13, 2023
As Straw Men go, well, wow! That’s a beauty!!!
April 13, 2023
Yes, Peter, it has suddenly become fashionable to say let’s do away with the Belfast Agreement: it is old hat. Pretty galling for the people who never wanted it in the first place but made it work nonetheless; and were told by the EU, the US, and the South that it was sacred, set in stone, so sacred that the EU must annex N Ireland and manipulate the Mainland because of it. Now the EU has got its way, the Belfast Agreement can go. No further use for it. The elites in Washington, Brussels, London, and Dublin are utterly brazen and beyond contempt. Callous too.
April 13, 2023
Peter, you are in error. Not surprising as you probably gather your Northern Irish history from afar. The DUP is only one of several Unionist parties in the Assembly and together with the Unionist independents they all make up the majority in the Assembly. Sinn Fein may be the largest single party in the Assembly but they are not the majority. All the Unionists are opposed to the Windsor Framework. And they all agree it destroys the Belfast Agreement you think so highly of. That is why the Assembly is down, because the principle of power sharing on which it rests has been broken. You are wrong too to assert the Unionists who opposed the Belfast Agreement went on doing so after it had been adopted as the ruling set of principles. They accepted it and worked hard for its success, negotiating every day on bread and butter issues with people who had killed and maimed their families, friends, neighbours, and countrymen, or were closely linked to people who had. Now the Unionists are being treated with contempt, by the EU, by Biden, and by the British government and civil service. It is a shocking and shameful betrayal of the most loyal and patriotic subjects in the United Kingdom, but one that is hard for foreigners to understand because they get fed a lot of republican propaganda.
April 13, 2023
Well said Rose.
April 13, 2023
I know about the other unionist parties Rose. But then read this this:
“Just 16.9% of unionist and nationalist voters oppose post-Brexit deal, survey finds”
(Guardian 22-3-2023)
The leader of the Alliance party went to the Irish parliament todaym to hear Biden’s adress to parliament.
If you add the seats of the Alliance to those of Sinn Fein you’re only one seat short of an overall majority.
There is a trend there. So the UK, Ireland and the US should work towards opening the GFA to voluntary coalitions which represent the will of the people better than the current GFA arrangement. I realise this will take time. Peaceful and economic facts on the ground will help this process over time, I think.
April 13, 2023
You and others like you who don’t understand Ulster or its relationship with Scotland and England, are suggesting we concoct a dishonest formula to get round the Belfast Agreement and set off God only knows what. Really, Peter, wouldn’t it have been safer all round not to have been dishonest about the Belfast Agreement in the first place? Not to have weaponised it against us? The border is not mentioned in the Belfast Agreement. The Belfast Agreement says nothing about doing away with the border. The border is a currency border, a tax border, and a jurisdiction border. It is guarded on the Southern side by Garda patrols, with warning notices. The border is smuggled across by the IRA – not goods from Great Britain. There was no reason at all to pretend it could not cope with the passage of some very superior dairy products, heralded by electronic communication. Unless, of course, there was a desire to make major trouble. Well, we have major trouble now. Well done, EU and Southern Ireland. Well done, Biden regime. Well done, Westminster remainiacs.
The republican, remainiac Guardian is naturally going to tell you lots of people support the Windsor Framework. What it isn’t going to tell you is how many people have read it, or what those people who have read it say about it.
April 14, 2023
Rose, of course I wouldnât claim to understand the N. Irish divisions and sectarianism very well, they just baffle me and make me sad.
But I really see no ill will at the EU side, just a very careful protection of the single market. The very hard Brexit chosen in Westminster had really little regard for effects in N. Ireland. Even a simple temporary agreement on veterinary standards would have made it so much easier for N. Ireland. When I see the whole (non tariff) mess that Brexit has caused, I think that Westminster never really understood the single market.
Britain also never yet implemented a proven electronic system to deal with the goods flowing between the single market and the UK. Things could have been so much easier!
April 13, 2023
We here in North West of England, that saw two IRA atrocities in the 1990s, the first on a busy shopping street the day before Motherâs Day killing two little boys and injuring 54 other people (no-one has ever been brought to justice for that, I hope that there is some balance somewhere in time for the people who caused these atrocities) Iâll never forget it i could have been in that town centre with my baby like other Saturdays, my friend was caught up in the Manchester bombing terrified, were very grateful that the Northern Irish people voted for this agreement. The people who got injured in the UK were just ordinary people thats how terror works.
April 13, 2023
The people injured in Northern Ireland were just ordinary people and they were FORCEd under threat of violence to agree the GFA – I was opposed to it because it did not accept the democratic majority but allowed the Sinn Fein tail to wag the dog. Now we are told the DUP are in a minority so they have to give way.
But thatâs how terrorism works, delivered by the British PM and the âPresidentâ of the USA âwho is Irishâ âwas raised in the Polish communityâ âso believe of the Greek community in which he was raised that they called him Bidenopolous!â Etc etc etc.
A liar, a fraud, a vicious nasty old man.
April 14, 2023
Giving way to the hidden masked men of violence supported by silent women.
April 14, 2023
Strong parallels with Israel here, Lynn. Another recipient of treachery at the hands of the Biden regime, and the other good friend and ally of America. It is in the spirit of the age to betray one’s own while sucking up to and rewarding in a futile way those who behave badly.
April 14, 2023
Tracy,
No excuse for any violence from either side.
Could Britain and Ireland do more to break down barriers between these segregated communities in N. Ireland, to become more like the younger, studying generations in N. Ireland, who donât have strong identifications with either side?
April 14, 2023
Well maybe the problem youâve got is while people keep continuing to discuss unification of Ireland it creates division although Iâm yet to see any angered unionists coming in to England to blow up families in their anger about this going against their will.
Perhaps politicians just need to back off, it is as you say the younger future leaders and influencers are all wanting a united Ireland and to cut all ties with the UK then it will happen. It wonât need rhetoric from the USA and the EU will it? All the EU is doing, and please donât tell me that there werenât better solutions they should read some of the many here suggested my Mr Redwood and several of his well read posters like Denis Cooper who mentioned many pain free solutions. That is just stoking people up and causing lots of angst. If it is just the elderly then what is your rush.
The UK was good to Ireland we support their defence for free, donât demand they give their NATO % of gdp to support foreign peace aid as an alternative to NATO, give them a common travel area for free, allowed their trucks to trundle to and fro for free, and often treat their people in our prestigious hospitals for free. All this the UK gave Ireland when they demanded their Independence. Yet nothing is ever good enough of the UK.
April 15, 2023
SĂł let’s leave it to the younger generations, agreed. It will take decades but it’s up to them.
On another divisive issue that will also happen in Britain
April 16, 2023
There are MPs in our government who donât want sovereignty, they lied when they were elected on a ticket to provide just that. They now want to conjoin us into the WHO and give their decision making away. We will see just how many Conservatives there are left in the party soon enough.
This EU style indoctrination of the majority of our youth is one of the reasons I canât stand the EU containment. Our children, teenagers and young adults to the age of 30 raised through the education, education, education left wing teaching Blair years are so woke and darenât speak freely or have alternative views to the groupthink that theyâll all cancel themselves out soon, if they ever confess they donât agree with it, it is said in a hush đ€«. Your EU and their intentions for the future frighten me its like a sci-fi film or two Iâve seen, hopefully Iâll be gone before you take back your control.
April 13, 2023
Sir JR
A total misinterpretation of the facts.
The Windsor agreement is not a tragedy, what is a tragedy is you thinking that we can have a deal with the EU in NI without any EU influence.
A majority of the NI people support the deal and a solution to the power sharing will be found
April 13, 2023
Even after all this years the Irish situation still presents as a religious divideâŠ
April 13, 2023
Come on! President Biden is an old man. He doesn’t need Ireland – Prod or Catholic – to get elected, just the millions of “Irish Americans” who have a vote. Mr Sunak has played a bad hand well and carefully too. He is a very good prime Minister – the chaos caused by his predecessor was cleared up quickly and he is getting on with his well thought through agenda quietly and efficiently. we are very lucky to have such a man to lead our politics.
April 13, 2023
So Sunak is getting on with his agenda very well, is he, Anselm? Like the pledge to stop the dinghy invaders, you mean? Record numbers this week.
Or perhaps I’ve misunderstood what his agenda really is?
April 13, 2023
He does not even need the Irish Americans, he has the machinesâŠ.
April 14, 2023
…………and the Russians and Chinese to ensure Trump can’t get elected. Truth will out eventually.
April 13, 2023
A meeting of lost opportunities, though in truth none of us know what this brief encounter amounted to. I think Arlene Foster got it right when she implied that Biden has no time for the UK despite our support for the USA on the world stage. He even insults our King by his absense next month. Biden lives a fantasy irish heritage life and this trip was a way to glean the Irish/American vote at the next presidential election. Like the UK or not, his Afgahnistan exit stage left and his indifference to trade make him an unreliable partner with or without his mental and physical gaffs.
The total cockup of our Brexit negotiation with the EU was punctuated with the May/ Robins traiterous NIP, followed by Boris’s inattentive dash to get it out of the way. A lesson in the virtue of detail in place of slogans. I’m affraid Rishi’s final tier was just inept at best or driven by outside considerations. Useless and negative on both counts. It is not hindsight to point out, because it was said often enough before the event, that on Brexit D1 it should have been WTO rules for trade, leaving the EU to decide what they wanted to do on their side of the Irish border. Additionally it was up to us to insist on a 200 mile or median line maritime border. This too remains unfinished business. Until we get a UK government that believes in UK sovereignty we will forever be picking over the entrails of failure.
April 13, 2023
on Brexit D1 it should have been WTO rules for trade, leaving the EU to decide what they wanted to do on their side of the Irish border.
Was indeed what we voted for. Catch your opponent unawares. Everything went downhill thereafter.
April 13, 2023
I’ve just googled for “sammy wilson” combined with “mutual enforcement”:
https://tinyurl.com/3aetcmtj
The first reference is a tweet from Sammy Wilson dated February 8 2021:
“(3/4) The Mutual Enforcement proposal put forward by the @CentreBrexit meets the EU demand for protection of its Single Market while protecting Northern Ireland from having to be included in that market â thus avoiding the constitutional and economic damage which this does.”
The second reference is a reply from the Irish politician Neal Richmond:
“Mutual Enforcement, the new #Brexit alternative arrangements canard it seems. We’ve been round this merry go round already, the protocol is the only show in town, it has its flaws but can be worked upon, will require engagement tho…. ”
Well, they’ve got what they wanted, the Northern Ireland Protocol/Windsor Framework which keeps Northern Ireland under the economic thumb of the EU – Theresa May wanted that “vassal status” for the whole of the UK, and even claimed it as her negotiating triumph that the EU had agreed to that, while Boris Johnson did not care that Northern Ireland was being left behind as a “vassal statelet” – but that does not alter the fact that it would be the UK half of mutual enforcement, the UK export controls, which would meet the EU demand for protection of its Single Market, for that purpose it is irrelevant whether or not the EU do their half as well.
So why is the DUP not pressing the UK government to set up the system of export controls to demonstrate that it would be a workable and effective alternative method of protecting the EU Single Market?
April 16, 2023
Denis have you asked the leaders of the DUP? Did they respond?
April 13, 2023
Well, things will be worse. The government’s Genetic Technology Precision (sic) Breeding Act, given the royal (!) assent nearly three weeks ago, will allow the alteration of the genome of plants and animals, creating new species. It is comforting to be told that for reasons of caution only plant species will be altered or created for the first couple of years. However, the same precise genetic technology has already been used in animals (us!) and on a vast scale, the messenger RNA in the covid injections, transforming us from human beings into producers of the spike protein. Perhaps our rulers will have given this their close attention.
April 13, 2023
Liz Truss got it right “We have too many leftwing governments”. Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, the EU and the Windsor Framework, what a stitch up. Rishi Sunak, in trying too hard to be friends with the US and the EU, gives the impression that he would be happy to let the re-unification of Ireland just happen. No evidence he favours supporting the NI Unionists.
April 13, 2023
Biden should have met JRM who is a very British Catholic who would briefed him on EU thin gruel that continues to be served but Biden is not JFK nor his spiritual successor.
Hunter Biden on the photo shoot trip too holding Biden’s umbrella sends mixed messages too.
April 13, 2023
The fundamental problem is that Biden is positively anti-British. He always has been. Until there is a change of incumbent in the White House that state of affairs will persist.
April 13, 2023
And at times when he is in the White House Biden seems positively anti-American too.
April 13, 2023
As NOA passes through, drenching us all, I have speculated on how long it will be before our first hose pipe ban is announced. It is frequently reported that the water industry is one of our greatest polluters of our rivers and seas. I have looked it up and found that since Margaret Thatcher’s brave privatisation, the water industry in the UK is in excess of 70% foreign owned. Seems UK citizens prefer the fast buck to ownership of our basic assets. Ownership is spread from the Caymen Islands, via US, Canada, China, Kuhwait, UAE, Singapore,Australia,Germany, Malaya, and Switzerland, to name but a few. I feel that it is our governments responsibility, not to restrict such ownership, but to lay down the ground rules of conduct for such companies. The days of British exploitation of the World are long over, we should not be encouraging it’s importation. Nationalisation is not the answer, but modus operandi is. We need, zero permitted pollution, investment at a higher level in modern pipework, much greater resevoir capacity or even better a national water grid. In the South East, large desalination plants, the Israelis know how, run on cheap wind generated electricity. All this needs to come before investor payouts over and above an agreed acceptable level. I am sure we have scribes in ministries and quangos, not forgetting ministers, who are responsible for the present inadequate situation, put them to work.
April 13, 2023
Rishi Sunak is not the sort to accept he might have made a mistake. the DUP are not satisfied with the Sunak Framework. So Sunak’s character, unable to climb down appeared to side with Biden against the DUP. That does not mean Sunak would be content with losing NI to the south but perhaps he was naive about and taken by surprise by Biden’s overt support of the Irish against the British. I’m not sure Biden even recognises the Northern Irish as distinct from the Irish south of the border. I am sure he does not in any way recognise the Northern Irish as British. As far as he is concerned the whole island should be one state, the Irish state and Britain has no business in it.
Biden will always support, directly or indirectly, the EU’s ambition to take NI from the UK and the UK will not have a trade deal with the USA so long as he or another Democat is President. The UK should stop trying – it makes it look weak and pleading. The UK should instead focus on getting as muh UK content into the submarine component of the AUKUS deal, and getting maximum benefit from CPTPP. At least Biden cannot obstruct the UK in CPTPP.
April 13, 2023
We don’t need a trade deal with the US. The US is our biggest and most important trading parner already. For those who want trade deals, we are already making them with the individual states.
April 13, 2023
Correct.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/869592/UK_US_FTA_negotiations.pdf
âA trade agreement with the US could increase UK GDP in the long run by around 0.07% (within a range of between 0.02% and 0.15%) or 0.16% (between 0.05% and 0.36%) under scenario 1 and scenario 2 respectively. This is equivalent to an increase of ÂŁ1.6 billion or ÂŁ3.4 billion compared to its 2018 level.â
April 13, 2023
Why do we hold the opinion of Biden as so important – He should have been told to keep his nose out of our business….. and who the hell is he to tell the EU what they should be doing.
As the most disastrous US president ever we do not need anything from him – He is the last person we should be seeking help from.
When is the UK government going to act out of strength, deal with the EU in the same underway they deal with us? ……………When are we going to stop paying the French to escort illegals across the Channel?
April 13, 2023
”When are we going to stop paying the French to escort illegals across the Channel?”
NEVER UNDER THIS GOVERNMENT
April 13, 2023
âIt was a bad missed opportunity, a tragedy for our country.â
Weâre seeing our country crumbling before our very eyes it is happening now so fast.
We have become such a weak and corrupted state that we are no longer willing or able to defend ourselves from outside aggression.
Weâre quite happy to accept the UN/WEFâs decrees to destroy our economy chasing the Net Zero chimera by 2040 and our social cohesion by allowing millions of people to come to the UK from failed states around the world. We cannot even stop those who come illegally without ID.
Weâre heading for chaos, lawlessness and poverty.
April 13, 2023
Biden’s presence in Ulster did nothing to convince me that his intentions were honourable . He is no lover of the UK and of the role we play in world affairs . He is a stumbling leader and an ineffective personality . He probably has not done his homework on the Windsor Agreement otherwise he would be aware of its flaws . The DUP were right to respond the way they have .
April 14, 2023
Can you imagine the UK press if Trump had tripped and fallen so much and stumbled over his words and made the same comments that Biden has foo barred on? Now it’s like a soft hug, poor old dear, he’s doing his best.
April 13, 2023
eu rules have no popular democratic mandate in the UK
Our government’s collusion with the eu is treason
April 13, 2023
Agreed Sir John.
April 13, 2023
You Brexiters caused the problem. You and your fellow travellers denied forever during and after the referendum campaign that it was a problem. You broke it, you fix it. It is not up to the US president to go out of his way to accommodate sectarian fundamentalists who want to live in the 17th century.
April 13, 2023
Ranking those who caused the problems I might put “Project Fear” expert George Osborne at the top of the list.
April 13, 2023
Sir John,
In the last thirty years the only US President who has been a true friend of the United Kingdom is Donald Trump. He should have been invited to the Coronation.
April 13, 2023
Mark Thomas. I totally agree.
April 14, 2023
Mark Thomas.. Now there’s a comment.. would you invite Trump or anyone like him to your wedding?
I don’t think so
I don’t think HM would take the chance either
April 13, 2023
Aim for a United Ireland. Tell anyone who wants to leave they can come here, in a dinghy across the Irish Sea preferably, and will be accommodated in hotels until housing is found for them. Invoice Eire for all the infrastructure in N. Ireland.
April 13, 2023
Any objective observer reading the document would instantly recognise that the revised protocol undermines the GFA. It does not matter if the EU thinks the Unionists are being unreasonable, it is the EU that has insisted on safeguarding its single market when there is no risk whatsoever to it from cross border trade on the island of Ireland.
If the EU continues to insist on maintaining this approach, aided and abetted, it must be said, by Sunak and Co, power sharing at Stormont is unlikely to resume. We will then have to see how the NI politicians vote when the agreement with the EU is up for review in 2024-2025.
All it will take is a simple majority of NI politicians to vote against,and the whole Protocol deal is toast.
What will the EU do then?
April 13, 2023
@ Chris S “What will the EU do then?” – call for another vote until it gets an outcome that suits it perhaps?
April 15, 2023
Chris S sorry to burst your bubble but that is not going to happen more so now than ever. Donaldson and DUP have shown themselves to be ineffective – saying No to everything is wearing very thin now in NI. The younger generation want to get on with it – and the old Paisley style is not going to work anymore – they havn’t got the numbers – even now they have at most 25 per cent. Do the maths
April 13, 2023
Is there a sentence in that post that actually reflects reality? I could not find one.
April 13, 2023
I still haven’t seen a good rebuttal of my fairly ignorant view that Northern Ireland merging into Ireland isn’t just a matter of time under the Good Friday Agreement given the trend in NI’s Protestant/Catholic split, the age differences, and the higher Catholic birth rate.âOne reason it won’t happen is if the UK is such a delight to live in compared to Ireland/the EU by then.âBut the odds of that are slim because no country is allowed to be a ‘Sweden’ and show the others up.
This eventual merge was sealed by the GFA and I expect a lot of the parties closely involved knew it at the time.
April 13, 2023
Funnily enough 30 years ago I suggested we stop arguing for The 6 Counties and accept a United Ireland. At the time there were 3 million in the Free state, property was so cheap you could buy it on your credit card. There were surely more than 3 million on the mainland who would be prepared to move to Ireland.
We could then have had a referendum and voted to rejoin the United Kingdom.
Problem solved – even more attractive now that the UK is free of the EU.
A Danish acquaintance told me it was âobvious that NI should be incorporated in a United Irelandâ. Did not like it when I said that from my vantage point âit was obvious that Denmark should be incorporated into Germanyâ.
April 13, 2023
Perhaps you could explain why two well thought out contributions have disappeared from this diary. Why should I waste my time when you lack the courtesy to bother publishing them. Perhaps you are fearful of the comment they might spark. To me it seems symptomatic of this governments interest. It has its own agenda so stuff what the electorate think. Well be assured the electorate will speak.
April 13, 2023
Then on posting the above both contributions magically reappear. What is going on.
April 13, 2023
You are right in what you say today Sir John. Particularly you are right to criticise your Party’s present leader, our P.M.
He should not have negotiated the Windsor Agreement and sneaked it through Parliament in the way he did.
One thing you have not mentioned that I want to know is:-
What business is it of the U.S. President?
April 13, 2023
It has become the business of US Presidents in the same way it has become the business of Irish PMs – because Blair gave them that prerogative.
April 13, 2023
Really! We can expect neither the President nor his band of liberal leftie aides to actually know what the GFA and all others relating to non-USA nations were about. I do not know why this man is even heard these days. Or is it just out of politeness? Something his administration should take on board when talking UK independence or possible EU dominance over us. Not the way we would treat our most reliable ally I think.
April 13, 2023
Biden brings tragedy wherever he goes. So letâs look on the bright side: all he did in NI was confirm that both he and the PM of the U.K. are both inconsequential fools. He did no further damage than has already been inflicted by said Sunak on our Union.
And think of what he could have done! Look at the âbenefitsâ Ukraine has gained from the Biden family!
April 14, 2023
It should be the easiest thing in the world to implement a green lane for goods and services between the UK mainland and Northern Ireland. The reason there isn’t one is because Northern Ireland remains within the EU Single Market. Our beloved PM thinks that Northern Irish people are delighted to remain in the EU Single Market. He can put that to the test by granting the people of Northern Ireland a referendum on whether they want to remain in it, to be held after they have gained a few years experience of how the Windsor Protocol works IN PRACTICE.
April 14, 2023
Get off your high horse Sir John nothing is so tragic – at the end of the day there will still be people living in these islands getting on with their lives – people not at all concerned with our pesent day petty squabbles.
April 14, 2023
Any objective observer reading the document would instantly recognise that the revised protocol undermines the GFA. It does not matter if the EU thinks the Unionists are being unreasonable, it is the EU that has insisted on safeguarding its single market when there is no risk whatsoever to it from cross border trade on the island of Ireland.
If the EU continues to insist on maintaining this approach, aided and abetted, it must be said, by Sunak and Co, power sharing at Stormont is unlikely to resume. We will then have to see how the NI politicians vote when the agreement with the EU is up for review in 2024-2025.
All it will take is a simple majority of NI politicians to vote against, and the whole Protocol deal will be toast.
What will the EU do then?