The EU continues its negative approach to international relations. It has picked a fight with the USA over their agreementĀ to link with Australia and the UK in a submarine and Asia defence deal, indulging in French tantrum diplomacy. ApparentlyĀ daily it seeks to undermine the UK in Washington using its large embassy staff to brief the Administration and politicians with a very misleading and biased account of the Northern Ireland Protocol. They probably urgeĀ the President not to offer a Free Trade Deal to the UK as they seem worried by the prospect of one. As I have often argued we can get to a FTA with the USA by both the UK and the USA joining the TPP, or by the UK joining the US/Mexico/Canada Free Trade Agreement which might even be possible under this President. Meanwhile we have a great trade with the USA without any FTA as there was no EU/USA Trade Agreement to roll over when we left. The WTO works fine.
The EU misrepresentation of the Northern Ireland Protocol and Good Friday Agreement is more concerning and does need correcting. The UK Embassy in Washington and our new Foreign Secretary need to redouble UKĀ efforts to get across the UK and Northern Ireland majority view of the issue to the USA. The Northern Ireland Protocol is not essential to the Good Friday Agreement which isĀ not about trade matters. The Good FridayĀ Agreement is fullyĀ supported by the UK and Republic of Ireland governments. It sets out constitutional provisions of importance and is based around a mutual respect for and by the RepublicanĀ and Unionist communities.
The Protocol as interpreted by the EU isĀ harming relations within Northern Ireland and between NI and the Republic because it does not respect the wishes of the majority community. As interpreted by the EU itĀ is denying NIĀ the advantages of membership of the UK single market which was meant to be guaranteed. There is clear evidence of diversion of trade from NI/GB to NI/EU though this is ruled out by the Protocol. The document states “Having regard to Northern Ireland’s integral place in the UK’s internal market, the Union and the UK shall use their best endeavours to facilitate the trade between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK”. The Union has being doing the opposite.
The UK will need to take action to restore the integrity of the UK internal market in NI. NI should not be impeded inĀ getting GB products and supplies whilst of course UK companies selling into NI can ensure there is no seepage of goods destined for NI into the Republic. Trusted trader schemes, electronic manifests and spot inspections by UK officials away from borders can police the trade. A trusted UK supermarket company or large retailer should be able to stock their NI branches as they do their GB branches without EU interference. NI/UKĀ and the Republic Ā of Ireland have a good history of co-operating to stop smuggling over the NI/Republic border during our time in the EU, as the EU/NI border was a VAT, excise and currency border throughout. We did not need border posts as these matters were sorted out electronically away from the border.
The UK diplomats should explain to their US contacts that the EU is wrongly interfering in our internal trade. It would beĀ like Canada saying it needed to police and inspect US goods moving from other US states to Alaska in case they ended up in Canada instead.Ā I don’t think US politicians would countenance that.
They should also read out the crucial Article 16 of the Protocol which states “If the application of this Protocol leads to serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade, the Union or the UK may unilaterally take appropriate safeguard measures”. There is clear diversion of trade going on so we need to act.
September 29, 2021
Your leader, this PM, signed off on this agreement. He is fundamentally to blame for current events. His actions and behaviours are directly responsible. Moreover, one would expect the French government and the EU to act in such a manner to protect their position and erode the position of the UK. Johnson’s endorsement of the NIP delivers leverage to the EU to assert control over all areas of the EU-GB relationship.
Quite simply, this PM, sold NI down the river and splintered the UK. The man’s a charlatan. He has destroyed the UK and in time that will become catastrophically obvious. The cost of this wilful damage will be picked up by future generations and by then Johnson will have moved on to a far more lucrative career in the US
Wanted. A PM that isn’t progressive, isn’t Marxist, isn’t amoral and isn’t Anglophobic
September 29, 2021
Anyone remotely meeting the above criteria would never be allowed to be an MP let alone PM. It is a lost hope .
September 29, 2021
That is silly, and insulting to our host.
September 30, 2021
How ? He was a Conservative MP long before the Left / Wets of his party took over and, he ran against John Major.
And don’t make disparaging remarks without properly explaining yourself. You not Andy and I doubt you would be consider such.
September 29, 2021
Dom, we read today Johnson has caved in, again, on licenses for French fishing boats without anything in return. The sell out of fishing in his Brexit is directly linked to UK access to French inter-connectors for electricity! Do not expect any change in 2026 theoretical at best. What idiot would agree to this when claiming taking back control!
French blockade Jersey making threats, EU prevent life saving COVID vaccines (govt tells us) to N. Ireland and nothing in return, nothing. Frost all bluster and no action. The press are far kinder to him than he deserves or Johnson fails to act on what he says and caves in.
As reported by his texts to Cummings Johnson does not want the job of PM he wants to be happy and make money. JR, help him out- get rid of him!
September 29, 2021
And by the time we get around to building new nuclear power generating capacity will we be able to afford the uranium?Good article in Business New Europe today “Uranium:what the explosion in prices means for the nuclear industry.”
Uranium is up c60% since mid August(from $29 to $48 per pound).A lot of mining capacity has dropped out since Fukushima,leaving Kazakhstan as the leader,c40%,followed way behind by Australia,c13%.I mentioned here a couple of months back that Russia is restarting development of what is considered to be the world’s largest deposit in Eastern Siberia.
Also,a long term speculative investment fund has just bought 6m pounds(c$240m worth).
September 29, 2021
Brilliant..
September 29, 2021
+1
September 29, 2021
My +1 was meant for Dom.
September 29, 2021
Martin Selmayr gave a clear warning that the EU intended Northern Ireland to be the price of Brexit.
First May and then Johnson effectively said “OK, here you are.”
There’s no point blaming the EU. They made their intentions clear. It’s the British Establishment and Conservative MPs who are to blame….. for trying to overturn the Brexit Referendum result. Everything stems from that treachery.
September 29, 2021
Yes, you are quite right, but remember that the EU’s Quislings in parliament were refusing to allow a no-deal Brexit, or an election without an EU deal, so the EU were able to demand the Protocol to unlock the process. The Protocol was therefore forced on the government and I can understand and accept that.
BUT – what I DO vehemently castigate the government (and specifically Boris Johnson) for is not immediately tearing up the Protocol once the election was won. The PM should have been absolutely open about it and said: “The Protocol was always intended as a temporary agreement to unlock the parliamentary process and to obtain an election. It was a necessary tactic. It was never intended to be a permanent solution, as it destroys the unity of the UK, something we always said was not acceptable. The British government is therefore immediately withdrawing from the Protocol in its entirety and Northern Ireland will now be treated as an integral part of the UK”.
A statement to this effect, immediately after the election, would have been hailed by the public and would have resolved the problem. The EU would have had a little hissy fit and then everything would have settled down. Instead, our useless and cowardly and treacherous prime minister has allowed this problem to drag on and on and on, and allow NI to suffer and become ever more detached frrom the rest of the UK. If only those real Conservative and UNIONIST Party MPs would tell the PM to now scrap the Protocol or resign.
September 29, 2021
So your message to the world is – we are the UK, we sign Treaties never intending to observe them, you canāt trust us, we are liars. Brilliant strategy matey
September 29, 2021
Don’t be silly, dear. Brexit was a unique, unprecedented and unrepeatable occasion. The rebellion and treason in parliament made the country ungovernable. It will be clear to all other nations that this was a once-only event. If anything, it will *increase* their respect for Britain, as they will see that we will stop at nothing to stand up for ourselves.
The problem with people such as you is that you don’t understand the real world. Every country in the world – *except the UK* – puts its national interests first and does not give a damn about international rules or agreements. We are the *only* weak saps who actually think that we have to submit to agreements that are not in our national interests. If we tore up the NI Protocol other countries would just shrug and accept it, thinking ‘yes, we’d do exactly the same in the circumstances’.
We need to understand what everyone else on the planet understands: that the ONLY law that matters is national self-interest.
September 30, 2021
X-Tory old chap.
The UK Parliament is sovereign.
So the only treason possible is AGAINST it.
October 1, 2021
The people are sovereign MiC
Otherwise what does democracy really mean?
September 29, 2021
What’s actually wanted is an honest PM who tells people that cakeism isn’t possible, that compromise is necessary.
The current protocol is simply a consequence of the impossible trinity of Brexit. To get rid of it will require a compromise elsewhere, and what we still don’t hear from so many of those who advocated for and voted leave is which of those compromises they are willing to accept (e.g. continued alignment on standards) to get rid of the NI Protocol.
September 29, 2021
Correct. The Brexiters have NEVER grasped that other people have red lines and sovereignty too
September 29, 2021
Dont talk nonsense! We expected a man not a wimp! Kick the eu out of Britain and our waters was expected not a large wimp and liar. We are dont care about any of their red what evers, they need crushed like all enemies of Great Britain
October 4, 2021
Another idiot on a cultish and obsessive trip….when will brexiteers be classified as clinically mad?
September 29, 2021
Well itās a function of the Backstop having been previously agreed, and there having been a majority in parliament working with the then speaker (& probably in collusion with the EU) to frustrate Brexit. Of course itās a legitimate point of view to be against Brexit – there were good arguments on both sides.
But itās dishonest to say letās put it to the people, assure them parliament would implement the result and then try every trick in the book to avoid doing so.
September 29, 2021
Peter Parsons
Honesty?
What’s that all about then? Don’t trust them.
September 30, 2021
I don’t. There’s the old adage “how can you tell when a politician is lying? their lips are moving”.
One thing I pay attention to is what politicians leave out. It is common practise among all politicians to start by deciding the point they want to make, then making selective use of information in a way that leads to the pre-determined conclusion and missing out other relevant but inconvenient (because it contradicts the pre-determined conclusion) information which, if used correctly, would lead to a different conclusion.
September 29, 2021
The role of captain of the ship was long ago subcontracted to Europe, theyāre still on the bridge and theyāre not letting goā¦.and the quarter-deck officers are quite happy for them to continueā¦the people of the UK are just the steerage passengers down below
September 29, 2021
The CAPTAIN has had an eye-mask and ear-defenders on for months and months, following handing the job of steering to a shroud dressed ogre.
September 29, 2021
Quite right.
Indeed where is ‘Boris’? What is ‘Boris’ doing? Clearly nothing, as we would not be reading a text like this. But as I have said, and Sir John, will keep saying, how do you justify your loyalty to such a useless and cowardly leader who does not act on difficult matters, he just hides?
September 29, 2021
SirJ has more patience than meā¦.and remember loyalty is suppose to go both ways, the party and the leadership havenāt shown any loyalty or regard to its backbenches
September 29, 2021
Prang, his sister tweeted that they had his mother’s funeral yesterday.
September 29, 2021
+1
September 30, 2021
As I say, you’re going to hear far, far more about the European Union from from now on than you ever did when the UK was a member country, much of it from people like John.
Most of it – like everything else – is going to make you angry too.
But there again you seem to need that for some reason.
October 1, 2021
Yeah but it wont really matter anymore.
Talk all you want.
No more laws rules regulations and directives imposed onto our nation.
Independent at last.
September 29, 2021
Good morning.
But this is the Withdrawal Agreement your party leader negotiated and your fellow MP’s voted on. This is what was agreed. Surely you must have all known that this is what would happen ?
September 29, 2021
Mark, they all k ew the failings of the sell out. It was highlighted by many publications and in many forums, some of which JR was present. JRās party still voted for it while Johnson lied to say there would not border, no checks and leave as one nation. JR, what part of Johnsonās claims were true? Alternatively, could you confirm he lied to the nation and sold out the DUP.
September 29, 2021
‘
Reply Not so. I told the government it was a bad agreement’
Yes, but did you explain why it was bad and what the consequences would be? It would seem not.
Reply Yes
October 2, 2021
And what was the result? Getting info from you is like picking hens teeth. You can’t explain here but what about a note here as it is instructive to find out how criticism is received and by whom.
September 30, 2021
The relationship with the European Union is not one of equals, never mind one where the UK is dominant.
It can therefore no more dictate terms than can a borrower to a lender, an employee to a boss, a pupil to a teacher, or a private to an officer.
Get over it.
October 1, 2021
And that comment is why we voted to leave MiC
You have exposed it without even realising it.
September 29, 2021
Indeed but Boris should never have sold Northern Ireland down the river. He needs now to rectify the problems this appalling betrayal has caused. It can still and should be done.
The insane net zero agenda and HS2 should be ditched now as going green is not “easy”, nor “remunerative”. They cost a fortune and are entirely pointless – this will give him more time and money to achieve this rectification.
September 29, 2021
Philip Johnston today in the Telegraph reminds us of when Boris wrote sensible things in the Telegraph like:-
Ten years ago, we found one in the vast quantities of shale beneath our feet. One commentator excited by this prospect was Boris Johnson, who as London mayor in 2012 wrote an article in this newspaper under the headline: āIgnore the doom merchants ā Britain should get fracking.ā
He added: āWave power, solar power, biomass ā their collective oomph wouldnāt pull the skin off a rice pudding ā¦ We are increasingly and humiliatingly dependent on Vladimir Putinās gas or on the atomic power of the French state ā¦ By offering the hope of cheap electricity, fracking would make Britain once again competitive in sectors of industry where we have lost hope ā¦ What, as they say, is not to like?ā
Yet Mr Johnsonās administration has scrapped the fracking programme because of the probability of tremors associated with the process. If such geological impact tests had been applied to coal mining we would never have had an industrial revolution.
The criminal neglect of our energy security has left Britain in danger
Petrol shortages may be annoying, but it is only the start of our problems unless things change soon.
What went wrong with the man, Carrie, Covid, Power, insanity, state sector group thinkā¦?
September 29, 2021
LL – I live in a (ex)mining area, and lived next door (literally) to an opencast mine for many years. We suffered minor earthquakes, tremors, damage to property, due to the blasting etc. but it went ahead as the country needed the coal. Why are the same rules not applied to fracking?
September 29, 2021
Indeed, it seems they actually want to cause these energy shortages due to either to their deluded Carbon religion or jist vested interest in renewable subsidy farming?
September 29, 2021
Yes, if health & safety were applied in 1939 we would never have declared war on Germany. Much better to have Nazis running the country than have anyone hurt.
September 30, 2021
Er, I think that you have answered your own question, Shirley.
Since 1998 everyone here has the Human Right to Peaceful Enjoyment Of Possessions, so the government’s granting of licences to do that to people’s homes would be a tad in breach of that, perhaps?
That said, I do think that research should continue.
October 1, 2021
Best buy a generator then MiC or soon you will be, like many millions of people, sitting in the cold and dark.
September 29, 2021
Iāve been reading his diary for ages.
The apparent change is astounding.
Howeverā¦he has probably just always been a tad economical with the truth.
Or it could be put more stronglyā¦
I always say..look at the photo of them all on the steps of the Bullingdon Club!
It speaks volumes.
September 29, 2021
Putin has now got Europe in a tight Russian bear squeeze when it comes to gas. The volume of gas supplied through the existing pipeline is down from normal in recent days, amplifying the energy squeeze and adding to skyrocketing prices; Gazprom said it was caused by the needs of other customers. It is why the Dutch PM is considering reopening the Groningen gas fields. The avoidance of dependence on Russia – and a volarile Middle East – was among the compelling arguments to explore the potential of extracting gas through fracking in the UK. Europe’s obsession with renewables has now left it strategically vulnerable to Russian energy supply pressure. Putin has it within his power to expose the talking heads at COP 26 to the vulnerability of their dependence on renewables.. In doing so he would expose them, especially those from the West, as unable to supply the basic energy needs when pursuing net zero. He has every political and economic incentive to do just that. It would diminish the West and its influence. It would boost Russian coffers. Such are the consequences of the mindless pursuit of Net Zero.
September 29, 2021
Russia is already in an immensely strong position financially-it has amongst the largest international reserves in the world,hitting another record last month as did it’s trade surplus.It moved back into budget surplus in Q2 (after a small covid-related deficit last year)and the IMF expects a surplus for 2022 despite increased public spending.
With the massive port and infrastructure developments underway in the Baltic,Arctic and Far East,it is going to divert global trade routes particularly with the benefit of China’s export volumes passing through-potential hostile US activity in the SE Asia can only promote further use of Russia’s Arctic shipping and overland corridors.
September 29, 2021
I heard the only advice when hugged by a bear was to endeavour to reach his balls and squeeze like your life depends on it ….it probably does!
September 29, 2021
all of the above?
September 29, 2021
I agree with you, Lifelogic, but I believe that the blame lies within the Civil Service.
When Cameron came to power, there was little that changed, despite him following on from Brown and Blair.
Conservatives were expecting big things of the enforced Cameron regime despite the coalition with Clegg.
It never happened because the Civil Service always remains the same.
We are seeing this now. It takes a very determined Minister to enforce a change of policy and the Civil Service has bear traps ready and waiting for the likes of Pritti Patel who have the temerity to demand that things are done differently and at a much faster pace.
September 29, 2021
Starmer in his speech suggest Boris is a ātoolā – (his father also a tool maker). So not just a piece of Etonian scum it seems but a tool too? Starmer also criticised Boris for being (quire rightly) against compulsory bike helmets.
But given that Boris has U-turned on almost everything is he still sound on bike helmits?
I assume Starmer will force these on to us if he and labour/SNP ever do get into power. They might as Boris/Sunak/Carrie are trying their very best to bury the Tories with their tax borrow and piss down the drain, green crap socialism.
September 29, 2021
Don’t worry about compulsory bike helmets as there are no police around to catch you not wearing one.
September 29, 2021
Ah, but didn’t you know, LL, that it’s just talking about fracking that has caused the Cretan earthquake and the eruption of the Canary Islands volcano?
September 29, 2021
Surely it was caused by excessive use of fossil fuels! I assume this eruption was predicted by climate āexpertsā and so included in all their 100 year climate modelling with all the other eruptions to come?
September 29, 2021
LL, I’m waiting for a prediction of when Yellowstone will blow its top. All their modelling will be binned.
Some US scientists have suggested that they drill down into it to relieve the pressure, but others suggest this would precipitate an eruption. Sounds about right for many “experts” these days!
And bear in mind that the total caldera is about 30 by 45 miles.
September 29, 2021
Itās an excellent article. Of course we need to revisit shale gas. The good thing about the current fuel and threats of power shortages is the population will wake up to it and put two fingers up to green hysteria.
September 29, 2021
+1
September 29, 2021
Delingpole highlighted the same last week. You cannot believe a word Johnson says or writes.
September 29, 2021
What went wrong is that Boris was then a newspaper columnist,now he is PM.Even assuming he ever intended to put his journalise into action,he is now in a straitjacket – doing as he is told by the international financial system on which the UK has long been cravenly dependent.
Build Back Better Globally is the US/globalist answer to the Belt & Road/Great Eurasian Partnership/Sino-Russian alliance which threatens to sweep away the whole post war settlement.The thrust of this is to force through green energy to counter the ever increasing power of the fossil-fuel based Eurasian bloc,while compelling it’s own vassals to adopt expensive green technologies,bought from western companies and in the process become even further indebted to the western imperial financial system.
September 29, 2021
What “went wrong” is that Boris is an unprincipled coward who always take3s the path of least resistance. He cares about nothing apart from self-aggrandisement. So when faced with the lobbying of Carrie, the left-wing media, the civil service, the EU and all the left-wing 3rd sector, he simply caves in and gives them whatever they want – be it unrestricted immigration, green policies, the betrayal of NI and our fishermen, cuts to our energy production, etc.
Boris is the problem, not the solution to our problems. Until we get a PM with the courage to face down all his, and Britain’s, enemies, we will continue to be screwed.
September 29, 2021
X – Tory
Very good post….Until we get……
Well I have a name for you who ticks all the boxes to replace whatever we are not getting now. Sir John Redwood…
September 29, 2021
+1
September 29, 2021
Will anyone vote for JR to be PM though? No one if he would be very good as PM – it is ever thus.,
September 29, 2021
London centred enthusiasm for fracking, when the fracking won’t take place in London.
Also London centred enthusiasm for sending all their rubber boat invaders to somewhere other than London.
September 29, 2021
Johnson will do nothing about the protocol he is too busy shutting down the country.
He must be the laughing stock among world leaders, paying to produce CO2 whilst urging its extinction to everyone.
The man’s a shysters and should be replaced.
September 29, 2021
Surely Johnson would turn round and rejoin the EU at the drop of a hat?
As I keep worryingā¦what is this EU jab passport we are getting involved in?
Not to mention all the ācooperationsā we are no doubt enmeshed in.
An island having to beg for its fishing rights to be returnedā¦.what a load of complete bs.
September 29, 2021
How can we rejoin the EU when we haven’t really left
September 30, 2021
Try going in the European Union citizen’s queue at the airport on the Continent, old chap.
Or not paying your reimposed roaming charges.
September 29, 2021
1 No problem
2 Brexit
3 Problem
4 Bla bla bla everyone else’s fault
continued page 97
Northern Ireland`s problems are transparently a consequence of as Protocol agreed and used to win an election. End of .
I must admit , you can`t stay angry forever . I begin to find the maniacal ability to ignore the bleedin obvious more amusing than annoying. My much loved frail and Brexity mother is typical .When I pulled her leg about Emma Ranacadu`s wonderful win ( they come over ere… and play tennis ,. sort of thing ) without missing s beat she told me . ” ..and it just goes to show they should never have got rid of Grammar schools …”.
You can`t argue with them.
September 29, 2021
Newmania – We’ve never had a problem with immigrants, Newmania.
You never ever listen, do you.
September 29, 2021
I’d like to see more muscular diplomacy – by the UK. I’d cheer if the EU’s diplomatic mission here was shut down. I’d cheer further if HMG removed any form of border controls on good passing from BG to NI customers.
September 29, 2021
Excellent summary thank you. The U.K. should make clear that the EU is in breach of both the Protocol and at least the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement (as you say that wasnāt explicitly about trade anyway). If the EU refuses to alter their approach then clearly Article 16 must be invoked. The EU has after all already shown that Article 16 is there to be used.
September 29, 2021
There is a lot of talk about āthis has happened, that has happenedā. What, actually, has changed for, say, a supermarket group based in Manchester stocking a store in Liverpool and stocking their store in Belfast? Whatās different now compared to before our notionally leaving the EU?
September 29, 2021
Correct – apart from no longer having the ability to vote in the European parliament, nothing has changed, we haven’t left…the level playing field is a shackle round our neck
September 29, 2021
Perhaps the simplest way of eventually resolving this mess if the EU continues to play hardball, is simply to not export anything into Ireland from Northern Ireland for a time, and for the Northern Ireland to not request to purchase anything from Ireland.
In other words voluntarily cease trade between the two countries for a while, at let them both see how that really does affect both sides, to try and bring both to their senses.
If nothing is going from Northern Ireland to Ireland at all, then they need not inspect or provide any paperwork for goods travelling into Northern Ireland from the UK., and Ireland can be supported directly by EU supplied goods.
Surely there is nothing in any agreement that says you must trade is there.
In the meantime our embassy in the USA should be working hard to put forward the simple facts to outline the problems, as clearly we are failing to make clear the problems and causes from our side of the fence.
September 29, 2021
Alan, I agree.
Northern Ireland wants no border in Ireland, well the EU have said NO.
Why do we keep the common travel area other than on the Island of Ireland for the Southern Irish?
We seem to be treated with contempt by Ireland they don’t want to help to ease the situation so a degree of self-protection is required of the United Kingdom. Otherwise why wouldn’t Scotland want to walk all over the RUK.
Your government is weakening our hand, why? I don’t just blame Boris – there is a whole government that makes decisions. John, just how much power does the Prime Minister have? If he wanted to change the policy on say fracking, could he just unilaterally change it, would his party back him at a vote?
September 29, 2021
At whose command is all of this going to happen?
September 29, 2021
Say again
Does not need to be at anyones command at all, sometimes in business or in life you have to risk in the short term, cutting off your nose to spite your face, in order to teach Suppliers/Customers a lesson for your long term good.
This could be completely voluntary by the population, choosing not to purchase, buy, or supply Irish goods, if business will not pick up the challenge for themselves.
Completely up to business, its customers, and suppliers, thus no responsibility on government, other than to capitalise and take advantage of such action, by suggesting it may be prudent for Southern Ireland to change the rules and/or its behaviour.
Businesses and customers are complaining, up to them to take action.
October 1, 2021
Well quite alan, none of us have to buy turkeys at Christmas, if this industry can’t sort themselves out with UK workers and pay the right rates of pay we can buy other meats that are in stock right now. We only eat the same amount of food at Christmas, other people over buy, perhaps Martin Lewis can do a program about it – how to have an economic Christmas and not over-buy and waste food.
September 29, 2021
‘In the meantime our embassy in the USA should be working hard to put forward the simple facts to outline the problems,..’
You mean like trying to convince Al Capone that he was uninformed about bootlegging liquor and that he should stop it?
September 29, 2021
Dennis
First para – no chance as they very well could be remainers judging by the current stance.
September 29, 2021
You repeat what you have told us before and we all know. Agree totally and the majority (who voted before the Andys of this world dance on the head of a pin) have wanted action for a long time.
It is your weak negotiators Frost/Johnson/Gove constantly crying Wolf but doing nothing that is encouraging the EU to believe they can get away with it.
And to ask the Foreign Office to push back for a project they donāt believe in, indeed probably privately supporting the EU in the US is naive at best.
Say it out loud. Your leader needs a backbone.
He is certainly not going to do it, if ever, before his beloved COP26, it would be āblownā apart.
September 29, 2021
Yes, Johnson negotiated a crap deal for NI and the EU are making life difficult but where the French are involved is anyone suprised? It’s about time Boris started behaving like a PM and looked after the interests of the UK. What have this government actually done after Brexit to benefit us? Not much. It’s a fiasco and not what anyone voted for. Seems to me he’s joined the traitors in the party.
September 29, 2021
F U S
Behaving like a PM.
It is not in has DNA and it never will be. Couldn’t lead his way out of a sick bag.
September 29, 2021
“Tantrum diplomacy”?
Thanks John, I’ve just had to wipe the sprayed tea from my computer screen.
Really, coming from an ERG member in this what-passes-for-a-government.
I don’t think that many in the US will be reading this blog, which is a pity. It’s always nice to start the day with a real laugh.
September 29, 2021
I agree – we usually get two three even more from you and Andy.
September 29, 2021
Well did anyone expect anything different? We let alone the world are plagued with terrible leaders.
Why do we bother capitulating to ” our French friends” according to our leader.
It’s been many many years since this country has had a leader that has fought our corner and took politics out of how to deal with the likes of Macron and Co.
When are we the people of this country going to get a voice and allowed to be heard? These idiot protesters just might have a point in continuing their actions. Enough is enough, remove Johnson he has lived up to all the expectations on how he would play his role as leader. Wake up and face the inevitable, that this country is on the skids to nowhere. How long must the people be subjected to the constantly flowing open sore of arrogance and incompetence
September 29, 2021
As we all know this PM sold the UK down the river, in more ways than one. On NI, the EU will forever and a day use that nasty piece called the ‘Northern Ireland Protocol’ to beat the UK with and hold back the UK’s ambitions. The fact the NI Protocol undermines the Belfast Agreement is neither here or there. The EU wasn’t involved in the Belfast Agreement so it is null and void as far as the EU are concerned – they are now the Ruler of the ROI, and their rules take president.
Increasingly BJ is more interested in being on the World Stage, beating a drum on a situation that he has no control over and little affect on. The suspicion is BJ and in part it appears to run in the family he wants the UK back under EU rule asap. He is ‘grandstanding’ deliberately creating unnecessary pressure on the UK people for daring to believe they have the right to Govern themselves.
If there had been any credibility in our so-called political elite/class we would have left the EU in accordance with the wishes of the UK people in the referendum. Just a small handful of MP’s even understood their purpose and duty as MP’s, the rest wanted a free ride as order takers.
September 29, 2021
The protocol breaches the Good Friday Agreement.
Apart from any other considerations that is clear just from the fact that unionists are solidly opposed to it:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/09/28/visiting-a-local-primary-school-and-memory-lane/#comment-1263447
while nationalists and republicans are almost as solidly in favour of it as a route to a united Ireland.
There is a provision for consent, but only retrospectively, the first occasion being in December 2024:
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/northern-ireland-protocol-consent-mechanism
“What is the Northern Ireland consent mechanism in the Withdrawal Agreement?”
However I doubt that a UK court would agree that the breach of the Good Friday Agreement was unlawful.
September 29, 2021
Funny reallyā¦
As with Johnson, how on earth did anyone expect anything different of the EU and Biden?
Talk about always backing the wrong horse!
Or maybe this whole shebang is the outcome the establishment wants?
āOrder out of chaosā or some such utter nonsense.
And oh dear ā¦they all do chaos so well.
September 29, 2021
Sir John – I believe to much is made of what is termed ‘free trade’. In a UK US context the UK does better than most without it.
The problem with the word ‘free’ is to many believe it is an escape clause to avoid contributing to the tax system of the domain they wish to profit from. That is simply a backdoor method of weaponizing trade – a one Country can set out to strip another of its wealth.
Reciprocal, balanced trade that is equitable on all parties is the bit that makes sense.
What we need to avoid is the corruption of standards to act as a barrier to trade. The EU as they show the World daily are past masters at this.
September 29, 2021
Insulate Britain activists have defied a court order by once again trying to block the M25 – ‘You can throw as many injunctions at us as you like, but we are going nowhere.’
So are the police and Patel going to take any real action that will actually deter all this insane eco-vandalism or not it is clearly criminal. Surely we have enough problems with the petrol delivery problems without these vandals. Or will it be just more hot air and zero action from Patel as with the Calais boat people?
September 30, 2021
I’d think that XR or IB are the least of most motorists’ concerns at the moment.
October 1, 2021
Not if you are near the M25 trying to get to work and earn a living.
You bang on about human rights MiC but what about the rights of people to go about their legal business.
Whilst you sit all comfy in Cardiff just waiting for your next pension payments to roll in.
September 29, 2021
If you give the EU a stick to beat you with, you really shouldn’t be surprised if they use it.
Johnson gave the EU the Protocol stick. Now he has to take it away from them ….. but as anyone with half a brain knows, taking a stick off someone who is enjoying wielding it is far harder than not giving them the stick in the first place.
The simple fact is our cowardly, shambles-of-a-Prime-Minister, would rather pontificate at the UN about Climate Change than do the hard graft he was elected to do in the UK. And he certainly hasn’t got the guts to defy Senile Joe.
September 29, 2021
Sir John you are of course correct. The problem isn’t the EU or the US it is we have a PM that has never had his eye on the ball. He sees his devotion should be the World Stage, he has seen the ‘Thunberg’ effect in the media and wants part of it. He charges at windmills while ignoring the Country and the Economy
Above all this PM has gone out of his way to ensure no Conservative Party can be a party of the people again. True blue Conservatives know he has gone rogue with his Socialist doctrine, yet they aren’t the ones on the fringes at election that will switch in hope, they just wont turn up while he is in place.
September 29, 2021
+1
September 29, 2021
Like a spoilt child that doesn’t get its way, Macron and his cronies bring diplomacy into disrepute.
It seems it was always the practice of the EU to denigrate others that didn’t go along with their way of thinking, or had allegedly slighted it.
It really is about time the UK exposed the EU for the charlatan it is when it comes to its lack of integrity, as well as its dishonest politics.
September 29, 2021
+1
September 29, 2021
The problem is that the USA and its politicians, in particular, have a very peculiar view of Ireland.
They have a collective false memory of the Emerald Isle which is completely at odds with the reality, now, and when their ancestors turned their back on the country and went to the USA.
Biden, in particular, has wrapped himself in the Irish tricolour for electoral reasons based on the most tenuous of connections. He has much more English history than Irish. Combine this with the blatant ignorance of American Politicians on all matters to do with the Island of Ireland and the EU’s even more blatant weaponisation of the GFA throughout the negotiations and you have a recipe for the current impasse over the protocol.
Can we turn this around ? I believe Liz Truss can talk till she is blue in the face but she will never alter the entrenched misconceptions related to the protocol so apparent in the White House. Indeed, there must be many of us here who doubt whether Biden now has the intellectual capacity to understand the issues at stake. That is potentially a much larger problem for the World than a little spat in Ireland.
September 29, 2021
āThere is clear diversion of trade going on so we need to act.ā
So why not act then?
Why all the talk from Lord Frost but nothing happens?
September 29, 2021
I agree Sir John but the shame of it is that there is still too much talk too many threats of action but in the end no action.
September 29, 2021
Your quotes in the DE today and the reported cave in on fishing rights to the French further proof the man on the bridge is not fit for purpose. Huff, puff all you like but he has got to go, his position is getting untenable. What has he really achieved with his 80 seat majority? Three fifths of naff all.
September 29, 2021
The French wake up every morning with a coffee & croissant and a hearty laugh at the stupid English
September 29, 2021
Glen
That is because we always give in, just wait for the present fishing licences row, which will turn around to benefit France within the next couple of weeks.
September 29, 2021
Maybe he has a cunning plan and shaft all those that follow with a big ball and chain just as Mrs May did with her leaving present over zero CO2 when he heads up the conference in Glasgow.
The man is dangerous with his route plan for us, basically he has lost control but he never really had it in the first place.
September 29, 2021
As I understand it the NI Assembly can unilaterally vote to abandon the entire protocol in December 2024. This would be under the terms of the protocol itself so there could be no argument at all about the validity of that decision. If the EU and by proxy Biden continue their current stance than that outcome is made much more likely. At that point the EU would have to decide whether to impose border controls, the UK would not. It would be after the next US presidential election so the president would be unlikely to be Irish Joe.
September 29, 2021
We can have no idea as to who the next US President will be but we know that the Irish diaspora is represented on both sides. Likewise there are assembly elections in NI next year and it’s possible Sinn Fein will come out on top- so we can’t be sure about anything- maybe a Labour government following Boris?
September 29, 2021
We have some idea of who or what the next US president will be like – another rather silly ignorant fool so it could be Kamala Harris.
September 29, 2021
I agree with your sentiment and comments SirJ however it was our government that acquiesced to every suggestion request, regulation, directive, demand, instruction and protocol from the EU
Even today weāll give in over French fisheries, Channel boat people and the continued EU involvement in NIā¦..this government, no this parliament hasnāt even the bottle to talk about removing or altering our VAT structure in fear of upsetting the EU
While we continue to pay tribute into the EU system and institutions, weāre tied to their restriction and obligationsā¦theyāll continue to be our overlord
September 29, 2021
How will we get energy security if our government doesn’t even recognise there’s a problem? From the Telegraph this morning: ‘The Defence Secretary Ben Wallace put around 150 military drivers on standby, but no decision has been made yet on whether they will be deployed.’
No decision. In other words, ‘Crisis, what crisis?’
September 29, 2021
With the opposition on the floor he could have taken this country to new levels of achievement and security for all its people. Two faced and gutless that is why his lead over Starmer has all but evaporated. Is any one listening in Central Office or on the 1922 committee? We tried all the younger types and it has not worked.. Call up some senior well respected and experienced members to take their places. They sure as hell cannot make a bigger mess of things.
September 29, 2021
Yes, I’m quite sure that Ken Clarke and Michael Hestletine could clear up this mess in a few days, given a free hand.
September 29, 2021
What rejoin the EU?
Isn’t that what you and those two EU fans would do MiC?
September 29, 2021
The PM is also wrong in his handling of fishing at many levels.
It is the EU that wants to fish in UK waters. All States in the EU are controlled for trade by the EU, and they are not happy when individual states attempt trading on their own with outsiders. On that basis the UK yearly negotiated quotas and licences should be with the EU, for them then to distribute. Then the French arguments are with the Commission and not the UK. PM is creating a rod for the UK’s back.
On the same front the Channel Islands have never been in the EU, so have not had to negotiate leaving. Their fish stocks are theirs how they choose or if they choose to distribute is simply their choice.
Fish is a good example of the EU’s deliberate blocking of trade. UK fishermen did have a degree of trade exports with continental Europe, this is now held up in a way that precludes it taking place. Fresh fish has to be fresh on arrival – deliberately and maliciously delay it and its not. All the while Boris permits uncontrolled steeling from UK territorial waters, meaning why should the EU also allow UK fishermen to service their markets as it still gets the same fish by the back door.
The EU has a deal were they can send their goods to the UK, but there is no arrangement the other way around. The PM demonstrated he wasn’t working for the people of the UK but looking for applause from foreign rulers – while diminishing the UK, its people and the economy.
Reciprocity in all trade, not selective trade – is all that is needed for a mutual benefit for all.
September 29, 2021
+1
September 29, 2021
Only gets worse. At last a report into heat pumps and the unsuitability of the pipework and radiators in existing installations especially those with micro bore pipework. Some systems will need to be completely repiped.
Slap my thigh who would have thought that? Qualified heating engineers have been trying to tell politicians this for years. When in business it was a good earner replacing HPs with a good old fashioned oil high efficency boiler which were far more suited to the existigistallatioadtherefore cheaper to run. The PM has talked about retrofittig 60k of these units? Dream on.
September 29, 2021
As we reach the end of September it is worth reflecting on the EUās vaccine success. In February Brexitists were telling us how vaccines proved Brexit worked.
Well, 9 months later – we are now behind ten EU/EEA countries in terms of the percentage of people fully vaccinated – and it is clear Brexit has not worked. Norway is the latest country to surpass us. Although it is not in the EU as a member of the EEA it participated in the EUās vaccine procurement scheme. Spain, France and Italy are all ahead of us on vaccination rates – France has actually even done more vaccinations than us, despite having a slightly smaller population. A huge vindication for the soon to be re-elected President Macron in a vaccine hesitant country.
Meanwhile we still have a higher number of daily infections than any other country in Europe and we are still averaging close to 1000 Covid related deaths a week. We recorded 167 Covid deaths yesterday. Norway recorded 1. The scale of the Tory pensionerās epic failures on Afghanistan, climate change and Brexit are dwarfed by the mess they have made of COVID and the nearly 150,000 mostly old people who are dead as a result. I donāt know how anyone can even contemplate voting for them.
September 29, 2021
Covid is a global problem which started in China. It wasnāt caused by either Brexit or the Tories. Itās great that many European countries are finally getting organised with vaccines. It would have been better if they had done it sooner as the U.K. did, with our independent scheme. And it would have been better if we hadnāt had disgraceful anti-vax BS from EU figures like macron and von der Leyen – thousands of lives would have been saved. Maybe hundreds of thousands considering the impact their lies continues to have on vaccine hesitancy in Africa.
But keep coming up with this crap we need it to ensure 4/5 more years come the election!
September 29, 2021
I have said before that Andy and MiC should simply be ignored, as they are trolls who only come here to cause trouble. That is why I did not reply to Andy’s idiotic post. The truth is that you can only laugh contemptuously at those fools who do not understand that the ‘vaccine race’ was won by the UK back in June and is now over. You can’t be overtaken once the race is finished!!!
In the UK the percentage of the adult population that is vaccinated is **100%** – of those who want the vaccine. Any adult who wants to be vaccinated has been vaccinated (since way back in June) -and given that normally-healthy children do not become seriously ill, it is ONLY the adult population that matters. You cannot go higher than 100%!! This is why, as I said, the vaccine race is over. As for those who refuse it, what do the marxists want the government to do? Break down their front doors, arrest them, hold them down and forcibly inject them? No, in a free country people MUST be able to freely decide for themselves what medication they wish to take.
Obviously you could try a slightly less violent approach, as is being done in several EU countries, by making life almost impossible for those who are not vaccinated. In Italy, for instance (where I am holidaying), those who have not been vaccinated are barred from entering any restaurant, bar, cinema, etc, and cannot even go to work. This has forced many who are wary of the vaccine to get it nevertheless. But is such a totalitarian approach justified? NO. That’s why most MPs oppose the introduction of a Vaccine Passport.
After all, if you believe in the vaccine (as I do, I want to stress) then you will get it and then you will be safe. So if you are safe, why should you worry if others, who choose not to be vaccinated, get infected? They cannot harm you, as you are vaccinated, so their infection is their problem. I have been vaccinated. I am bulletproof. If others choose not to be jabbed that’s up to them. I am not bothered.
September 29, 2021
Yes true. Pretty much 100% of people who want the vaccine have had it. If there are European countries with higher levels of vaccination then itās accounted for by lower hesitancy and / or greater coercion (in France you canāt go anywhere without a vaccine Cert).
September 29, 2021
Andy, there is unfortunately no reliable measure of ‘Covid infections’, or of ‘Covid deaths’. If you don’t know how badly the PCR test is flawed, you haven’t been keeping up: that is why the WHO want to replace it by this December. We have had a testing pandemic, providing junk data. During this time, it’s true that many people with an average age of 82 have died of respiratory disease, or of complications caused by it. But that fate has sadly been the case since time immemorial.
Yes, we have suffered excess mortality, but it has been caused by a number of factors. Covid is among them, and so is an excess of non-Covid deaths, which have been worryingly high for over two months now. As and when an independent investigation can take place into the collateral damage of the government’s lockdown policy, all this will in my opinion need to be fully brought out into the open, with consequences for those responsible.
September 29, 2021
amazing isn’t it – no deaths in any EU country – I wonder how they do it? One of them found the elixir of life and didn’t tell us ! How mean spirited.
September 30, 2021
Thanks for the very relevant update, Andy.
September 29, 2021
Attributed to Major Sharpe circa 1812
āāOne does not simply defeat the French (EU) in Europe
Until one has defeated the French (EU) in England (Tory Party)āā
September 29, 2021
Yes, the Leave camps are very much still fighting the Napoleonic Wars and against the Continental Enlightenment.
It’s what all that Victorian neo-Gothic architecture was about too – hideous stuff.
September 29, 2021
The continental enlightenment was pre the napoleonic wars and in any event the U.K. was at the forefront of it.
If you are going to post pretentious stuff like this I suggest a little reading and self-education beforehand.
September 29, 2021
Richard1. Love it!!
September 29, 2021
I didn’t claim otherwise, Richard.
September 30, 2021
I said “the Leave camps”, not “Britain”.
Please read correctly and understand.
September 29, 2021
Well guess what John. I am now a few days from attending my first event in these new times.
The ticket agency and venue demanding proof of vaccine status or negative test result. Refuse to accept the nice little card which was given out at a vaccine centre. So you have to apply for an NHS Covid passport.
NHS system will not give a simple certificate to show that you are double jabbed, instead it gives a bar code which is only valid for 2 days which is also reflecting any test results against your name.
Not only is several thousand pounds worth of my ticket and travel money now depending on output from an NHS app (which I know the quality is terrible, I have been inside those teams), but there is a lot of lying and deception going on.
For one I bought the tickets without any of this being a condition of entry.
For two I was made aware later that I have to prove my vaccine status, which I am upset enough about (as I know many people with medical conditions that preclude them getting the vaccine and we have now cut them out of normal life), which I thought would be minor hassle since I am indeed jabbed. But no I have to continually reapply every single event as the passes keep expiring.
Apart from anything else this puts completely the wrong incentives in the system, as now I am being heavily incentivised to not have covid tests if I think I may need one, as if I do I risk disaster in not being able to attend once in a life time events.
Not to mention the hassle of putting young and fit children through testing just to get access to events.
I thought the government backtracked on vaccine passports? So they have just got the leading ticket agencies to implement it for them anyways.
This is Orwellian nightmare gone mad. A poor quality NHS website now controls my life, with no means of appeal or access to justice if they make mistakes.
Any chance the Conservatives had of me voting for them has gone out of the window, the Labour party being crap is no longer a defence from an electoral wipeout.
Not in my name.
September 29, 2021
Sir John,
You are probably the best Conservative MP on this subject. I hope you continue to press for abrogation of the protocol. What about abrogation of the entire Withdrawal Agreement? The WA includes a financial settlement – a joke of a settlement really – and one that the EU stated at the time would lead to a financial services agreement by mid-2020, which then didn’t happen. So why are we still paying the money? The issue of whether we can denounce the treaty is interesting, as the 1986 Vienna Convention on Treaties with International Organisations is not in force, as the required number of ratifications has not been received. There is the argument under the legal principle of pacta sunt servanda that even a treaty not in force should be abided by while waiting for ratifications to each the required number, but we have waited for 35 years so far and the EU states have not ratified it – how long do we have to abide by a treaty not in force? There is also the principle that bad faith would allow for unilateral repudiation, and the EU has behaved with the very extreme of bad faith. At times they were negotiating with Bercow and the Remainers in Parliament and not with the government in an attempt to undermine the UK government’s negotiating position. I conclude that the UK can repudiate. The Queen can be advised to do so by Order in Council – or abdicate – as her Coronation Oath to govern us by “our laws and customs” was trashed in 1972, and she cannot continue to claim the Coronation Oath was only a suggestion. Please argue in Parliament for repudiation of the entire WA.
September 29, 2021
First the UK government needs to get Parliament to pass the laws needed to underpin an alternative system of protection for the EU Single Market. When we were in the EU it was the UK law implementing the EU Single European Act that made it unnecessary for the Irish Republic to check goods coming in across the land border from Northern Ireland. Now it is the UK law implementing the Withdrawal Agreement and the attached Irish protocol, but that is inflicting unacceptable collateral damage on UK internal trade and must be replaced by a better alternative. The EU will automatically reject any proposed alternative, as it has done in the past, and so it would have to be unilateral action by the UK. It may seem overly generous for the UK to go to the trouble of passing new laws to protect the EU Single Market, rather than telling them to sort it out for themselves, but doing so would go some way to mitigate the loss of international reputation we would inevitably suffer through unilateral abrogation of the protocol.
September 30, 2021
We did try to warn you that it would be an intractably complicated mess, but all that Leave said was that the UK would have “the easiest trade deal in history” and other such utter nonsense.
Didn’t we?
October 1, 2021
It is not intractably complicated, on the contrary it is rather simple.
September 29, 2021
“… DUP is relegated to being the third-largest unionist party, Sinn FĆ©in has opened up a 12-point lead on its partner in government, with Michelle OāNeill well on course to become First Minister next May.” (independent.ie)
If Staunton [The Irish Times] is right, then the same colonial mentality towards Irish America has surfaced again, and once again, the British are underestimating the influence the Irish lobby has with this most Irish of presidents, Joe Biden. The British need to wake up. The special relationship went out with the 1994 tide. They donāt seem to be able to comprehend that just yet. Perhaps the fact that apparently, it appears no one wants to be U.S. ambassador to the U.K. sends a pretty good hint. [US currently has a ChargĆ© d’Affaires, ad interim in London]. (Irish Central)
The current management of the US and the EU, can have large influence on the Regional Trade Agreements (RTA) that the UK might want to grace with its membership. Best to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol 101%, immediately if not sooner Boris!
BTW. Regional Trade agreements are gradually making the WTO redundant. Following shows the Brexit roll-overs that have been listed. http://rtais.wto.org/UI/PublicAllRTAListAccession.aspx
September 29, 2021
The EU are regulation mad and utterly childish. If it’s illegal to sell a British sausage – or anything else – in the EU why would anybody import it into southern Ireland ? A smuggler with a suitcase full isn’t going to destroy the EU single market.
September 29, 2021
But the same smuggler may poison Irish consumers – or cause disease to reach the EU food chain. It isnāt just the EU who are exceptionally strict with products of plant or animal origin. Many countries are.
Iāve mentioned on here before my daughter was dragged out of a queue and we were threatened with a fine and deportation as she had an undeclared piece of fruit in her bag on arrival in Australia. A 10 year old with a piece of fruit.
This is what borders are for.
September 29, 2021
You filled in a customs declaration for yourself and your family members, stating you had no fruit in your possession andy.
It is a legal document.
You ticked no and got found out.
I’m surprised you weren’t fined.
PS
Have you any examples of things being smuggled into the South from the North of Ireland ?
And have any you know of actually caused anyone any harm ?
September 29, 2021
You deserve it, Australia is well known for these protection measures, even state to state.
You should have been put on the next flight back from whence you came.
September 29, 2021
Here we are, about to enter the 10th month after Brexit, and we are still talking about the NI problem, with no resolution in sight. Why is this? Because Boris Johnson has no intention of doing what is needed: the complete scrapping of the Protocol. Invoking article 16 is not enough. This is just a temporary measure and it will just leave the problem bubbling away, creating increasing uncertainty in NI about the long-term and prevent the EU from accepting a new and permanent solution. Given that Boris will never solve the problem, then the solution must be to get rid of him. Everything else follows from that.
September 29, 2021
The protocol is the resolution. Brexitists just need to implement it.
September 29, 2021
Andy
It is more about the interpretation of it as Sir John explains in his article.
As an example why should supermarket lorries delivering replenishment stocks only to their Northern Ireland stores be stopped and inspected?
It is petty and totally unnecessary.
September 29, 2021
Scrap the protocol and all talks are surely off with the EU about passporting for London banks, financials and Insurance etc with Europe – also there will be no chance of any trade agreement with the US. IF we think it ok to renege on international agreements protocols etc then the way will be open to other countries to do the same – think Spain and Gibraltar – idiocy
September 30, 2021
That is why we need to put in place better alternative arrangements to protect the EU Single Market before we scrap the existing unsatisfactory arrangements.
As the EU will reject that idea out of hand we should do it unilaterally and invite them to do the same for their part of the long proposed collaborative scheme.
From August 2019:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49488844
“Brexit: Backstop plan by Sir Jonathan Faull dismissed by EU”
September 29, 2021
Sir John – I don’t understand why you think the position of President Biden on this matter, or the US administration in general, is so important. There is nothing they can do to affect the UK’s policy or actions. Talk of a UK-US trade agreement being endangered is total nonsense. Not only is there no agreement likely in the short-term anyway, but we don’t even need one since, as you point out quite correctly, the UK has a trade surplus trading on WTO terms.
The truth is that while Biden, or a few US Senators or Representatives, might whine and protest if we were to scrap the Protocol, they would not do ANYTHING substantive. They simply couldn’t, even if they wanted to (which they don’t really, they just want to make a few noises to please the Irish lobby and that’s it).
Or are you maybe hinting that, given your inside knowledge of the government, fear of US criticism is actually one of the things preventing Boris Johnson from getting his thumb out of his backside and solving this problem by scrapping the Protocol? If so, that just reinforces my view of what a fool and a coward he is.
September 29, 2021
I doubt that Biden has the mental capacity to reach beyond his own Irish ancestry or the largely democratic Irish vote in the USA. All of it makes it questionable as to whether he would ever wish to.
I conclude that an FTA is icing, we trade quite well minus one. There is also a question as to what we might be obliged to accept if we had one.
Biden has confirmed his inability to make rational decisions at home and internationally. Keep a good relationship with US institutions , the military and intelligence services specifically, and await his consignement to history.
September 29, 2021
Does ANYONE in this govt have a clue what on earth is going on???
Clearly not. ” We need power” !!! – lets import more illegal people ????–who use power !!!!
“We need lorry drivers” – How many with fake licences will arrive – and crash – or vanish ???
We are supposed to be one of the best countries on the planet – – amd being turned into a 3rd World “Best Refugee and Asylum ” freeloader camps in the universe.
September 29, 2021
I donāt believe that MPs are actually worried about thisā¦the general election isnāt for three years
September 29, 2021
Well, Bigneil, surely among the thousands upon thousands of ‘guests’ that we have welcomed to these shores recently, and are now staying in South Coast hotels at our expense, there must be some who could drive lorries satisfactorily (and wouldn’t take too long to adapt to driving on the left)? If so, I wouldn’t mind. We need migration to make a positive contribution to our society, we’re told. This is an opportunity to see how that might work in practice.
September 29, 2021
They canāt be expected to drive HGV lorries because theyāre all doctors & engineers
September 30, 2021
š
September 29, 2021
Sir John,
Your own votes in HoC have clearly demonstrated your position on this – though unfortunately you were sometimes in a tiny minority.
One very minor point I have about your piece is that perhaps we should refer to Unionist and Republican rather than Protestant and Catholic. The fundamental political issue is not about religion, I have read of people with one political view object to being automatically tagged with a religious view.
September 29, 2021
I also object to the term “Good Friday Agreement”. It is *the Belfast Agreement*. The ‘Good Friday Agreement’ label was invented by Sinn Fein to try to give it more moral authority by imbuing it with some bogus religious underpinning. Let’s call it by its real name.
September 29, 2021
I see that Sir Kier Starmer MP leader of the Labour Party, like our dear leader can talk and talk and talk without mentioning:
Immigration, Repealing EU laws, Fisheries, NIP, VAT, HS2, Reform of the Lords, Trident, Fracking Shale Gas & SMR, Foreign Aid and the Channel Boat People….that quite a skill
September 29, 2021
The EU have decided British motorists driving outside the UK must now remove old-style GB stickers or cover them up. Instead they should display a UK sticker or have the UK identifier on their number plate. The UK government guidance has been in place since Tuesday 28 September.
“It might only be a matter of replacing two letters, but this is a significant change for drivers who in normal times take their cars outside the UK,” said RAC spokesman Rod Dennis.
The new rules state that any driver with a GB sticker on their car now needs to replace it with a new UK one if they are taking their vehicle abroad.
“Drivers also need to remember that number plates featuring the blue band and letters ‘GB’ next to the European golden stars are also no longer valid,” Mr Dennis warned.
Penalties for not complying with the new rules are likely to vary.
Halfords warned that drivers who failed to display their UK badges could be refused entry to some countries.
Why would want to suggest we still were members? I I forget Andy and Martin….
September 29, 2021
The British government made the decision to change from GB plates to UK ones. Itās nothing to do with the EU.
September 29, 2021
Yes, funny that Andy…
September 29, 2021
LAST LINE. Why s/be WHO.
September 29, 2021
Nothing to do with the EU. The RAC reported the story in July 2021: The UK (GB+NI) has correctly pointed out that the country is bigger than just GB. The UN (i.e. United Nations) has therefore agreed to a new UK sign.
BTW a new UK sticker is available for Ā£1.79 + VAT from eg Halfords, which I donāt think justifies Metroās title on 5 July 2021 āTory fury as GB car stickers set to be replaced by UK versionā.
September 29, 2021
I don’t blame Boris for this fuel crisis, I blame the company at the start of this hyped-up problem that didn’t train sufficient drivers even though they had five years notice of Brexit, know how many of their drivers were due to retire, know their workforce requirements. There is something very fishy about all this. Their drivers are amongst the highest paid in this industry, their jobs are difficult to get usually and there is typically waiting lists for tanker driver vacancies. Seriously someone tell us how many drivers they had on furlough this year? How many of them were EU drivers that returned to their home bases in the EU? Did they get settled status before they returned home to sit out covid? Just how many EU employees did they have that they don’t have now. This isn’t difficult to discover. Just how big a problem is this.
Now why aren’t the media asking all these questions of this tanker industry? Why haven’t the government defended their position, why are you not answering the headlines with FACTS.
These turkey farms that want to employ people who are willing to work six days per week, for how long 13 hours per day, what do they pay per hour? What do they charge for lodgings per person? Where do their temporary workers live? Why aren’t systems organised that British unemployed adults can be provided accommodation and given these temporary contacts to be returned immediately onto benefits when the temporary work ends. 10 hours per day at Ā£8.91 = Ā£89.10 x 6 days Ā£534.60 per week. Why can’t asylum seekers take this work and accommodation, often fit young men, why are we providing accommodation and food with nothing expected in return?
September 29, 2021
Why aren’t our British ambassadors as efficient as French ones, especially in America with a common language?
Why aren’t our British government representing our interests in Northern Ireland, this is your party John, not ours anymore. We gave your party and Boris the mandate with a massive majority. Why are you allowing freely imports from Southern Ireland when they stop our exports, we have a common travel area for people why not for goods it is a one way street and we’ve been cobbled and Johnson and Frost cobbled us.
September 29, 2021
An DUP MP said yesterday on the radio that there is no shortage of goods in N. Ireland, but that all the goods were European. So the EU is achieving their aims by stopping British goods getting through, but not stopping EU produce. This is their plan, it has been all along, we need our PM to stand up to these people, otherwise the UK will exist no more.
September 29, 2021
Aw, diddums, eh?
September 30, 2021
Aw, Article 16, eh?
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/northern-ireland-protocol-article-16
āserious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of tradeā
September 30, 2021
The problems being caused are down to the non-implementation of the agreement – to please the “loyalist” headbangers – not its implementation, to which Article 16 refers.
October 1, 2021
I’m sure you know just how nonsensical that is.
September 29, 2021
You can have your say on the āGovernmentāsā latest PASSPORT scam.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposal-for-mandatory-covid-certification-in-a-plan-b-scenario-call-for-evidence/proposal-for-mandatory-covid-certification-in-a-plan-b-scenario-call-for-evidence
I doubt if they take any notice but neverthelessā¦..
September 29, 2021
Some say the Protocol does not represent the views of the majority of the NI community- but how do we know this considering that the majority of the NI community voted to remain in the EU. Only the assembly elections next year will tell.
It seems to me only the DUP Leadership and a few other fringe Unionist types are for scrapping the protocol – for instance we know the Ulster farmers and majority NI business people see the sense in having access to both GB and the EU markets which the Protocol allows.
And don’t forget it was the very same DUP who held the upper hand in Parliament during most of the WA negotiations – in the end they got what they wanted and now for whatever reason have changed their minds.
September 29, 2021
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/the-unionist-parties-come-together-to-reject-the-northern-ireland-protocol-and-call-for-its-replacement-with-arrangements-that-respect-nis-place-in-uk-3398717?itm_source=parsely-api
“The unionist parties come together to reject the Northern Ireland Protocol, and call for its replacement with arrangements that respect NIās place in UK”
September 29, 2021
Yes but all a little bit too late.
They, the DUP, were in prime position and had plenty of chance to voice their concerns while negotiations were going on but failed – we only ever heard from them about what they were against – never what they were for
September 30, 2021
Well, Lord, previously plain Nigel, Dodds, sees it rather differently:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/lord-dodds-the-dup-has-consistently-opposed-any-border-in-the-irish-sea-3401513
“Lord Dodds: The DUP has consistently opposed any border in the Irish Sea”
“The record is clear. From the first mention of the Barnier backstop in February 2018 to the calling of the general election in November 2019 the DUP at Westminster consistently and sometimes alone led principled opposition to any notion of Northern Ireland being in a different single market or customs arrangement than the rest of the UK … “
September 30, 2021
But they were promised There will not be a border down the Irish sea!
September 29, 2021
The Northern Ireland Protocol needs to be binned in its entirety. It was never going to work to our satisfaction. We voted to “Leave the European Union”, not some half-baked measure dreamt up by Boris.
September 30, 2021
The people of NI voted to stay in, quite convincingly.
September 29, 2021
There is ample recent evidence that the UK Embassy in Washington is not fit for purpose (that staffer who resigned after being unwilling to explain Brexit, that ennobled by May’s bad judgement Ambassador bloke who wrote such one-sided tosh about the presidential election and thought fit whilst in office to conduct an affair with some CNN operative). If its efforts have nonetheless left Mr. Biden misled by Evil Empire representatives then we might rely upon our new Foreign Secretary to redouble UK efforts as you suggest but perhaps leave the Embassy out of things, notwithstanding that a new ambassador was appointed after the ennobled one left under a cloud?
September 29, 2021
There is no need for the Northern Ireland protocol. All that is needed is a requirement that containers and consignments from the UK mainland routed via Northern Ireland and destined for the Republic should have their contents declared in detail; a copy of the documentation would be forwarded to the Republic. Goods from the UK mainland to NI for consumption in NI need not be declared at all. Most exports from the UK mainland to the Republic would be routed through Dublin or another Republican port.
How to cope with NI exports to the Republic is a problem for the Republic and the EU, not for us.
September 30, 2021
Sir JR
We are getting very emotional about a protocal that Boris proposed himself and that everybody is trying to make work for the moment and improvements ahve been made. (sorce Econoist)
There is still work to be done, but the somewhat emotional condemnations of the EU, without facts and evidence, does not serve your argument well.
I have not noticed that the Europeans do not know the difference between the Protocol and the Friday agreemetnt, the misunderstandings are more with teh Americans, which you ahepointed out yourself.