No surprises in Queens speech

There were no surprises in the Queen’s speech. I spoke in the debate and will post the transcript soon.

The Speech did not expressly pledge to legislate to sort out the EU’s damaging and unreasonable interpretation of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Stories in the press suggest the government may however be about to act on this. The EU shows no wish to back off to save the  Belfast Agreement and rescue an Assembly government. It is vital the government acts now, as the Lords will try to delay and block such a law. The government needs to leave time to use the Parliament Act if the Lords decide again to oppose the democratic will of the U.K. and side with the EU.

126 Comments

  1. Lifelogic
    May 11, 2022

    Correct it is vital to act now on this.

    1. Peter
      May 11, 2022

      I cannot get very interested in the Queens Speech. It is just talk. What is delivered is what counts.

      As for ‘stories in the press’ we have had plenty of them. Often they seem designed to head off further unrest.

      1. X-Tory
        May 11, 2022

        Quite right. Boris always promises big when in trouble but never delivers anything. How many illegal immigrants have been sent to Rwanda? None. What actions has he taken to resile from the Protocol? None. How many RR SMRs have been ordered? None. The man is a useless, stupid, cowardly traitor. I’m still waiting for those 54 letters!

        1. glen cullen
          May 11, 2022

          Boris has signed security declarations with Sweden and Finland, pledging UK support should their militaries come under attack
.has anyone told our army

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      May 11, 2022

      All of the problems are down to brexit and the obscurantist minority DUP’s intransigence and dishonour.

      1. Mickey Taking
        May 11, 2022

        wet and windy today – damn Brexit.

        1. glen cullen
          May 11, 2022

          Petrol gone up again 4p this week – damn brexit

    3. Hope
      May 11, 2022

      The Queen’s speech is pointless exercise for any strategic planning of the government. It has become another ceremonial sham of no meaning or bearing on what might happen. No right minded person would or could believe Johnson. He is incapable of telling the truth. Wasn’t there a film based on someone perpetually lying?

    4. Ian Wragg
      May 11, 2022

      Bur they won’t. Bozo doesn’t want to upset Brussels. He’s not really a brexit lover.
      He’ll probably go down in history as the man who lost Northern Ireland. I’m not so sure Dublin would be pleased having the anchor that NI really is or if a referendum could be won by the nationalist.

  2. Peter Wood
    May 11, 2022

    Good morning,

    If you surmise correctly, I suppose my hat and digestion are safe.

    More likely, Ms. Truss is being encouraged to get tough with ‘new legislation’ to remove/modify the Protocol only to have the carpet removed from under her at an opportune time by Bnnter Boris, to eliminate Truss from contention. Does she not see that?

    PS, Good speech, at least you get the need for growth and how to get it. Bunter and Sunak appear not to want to do it.

  3. Lifelogic
    May 11, 2022

    Politics has become a dismal race to pass as many pointless laws as possible
    The great clash of ideas has been replaced with the utopian belief that MPs can solve all of life’s problems

    Philip Johnston in the Telegraph today.

    In fact a bloated inept state sector, daft laws & regulations, rigged markets (housing, energy, schools, universities, planning, healthcare
) are the main causes of these problems.

    1. Everhopeful
      May 11, 2022

      +many
      Gosh! He is so right!
      Why won’t they just leave us alone?

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      May 11, 2022

      I know that you hate the public sector, but might I remind posters here that it is the private sector of commerce and enterprise which wants immigration, since a global jobs market is far more to their cash advantage than a national one?

      And those people come ready-skilled.

      This is the government of commerce and enterprise, it tells us too.

      1. Donna
        May 11, 2022

        CONservatives/Commerce may want immigration to boost the economy (which it doesn’t – it boosts GDP, but not GDP per capita and causes as many problems as it aims to solve)

        But Labour/Socialists want mass immigration to change the face of the UK forever; weaken national/cultural ties and buy votes because they realised in the 1970s/80s that they couldn’t rely on the native voters to support socialism with their votes.

        The British people have made it clear for decades that they don’t support either of these objectives

      2. a-tracy
        May 11, 2022

        Parts of the private sector that is owned by foreign companies NLH?
        Are you quoting the CBI they don’t represent UK SMEs at all.
        Like the big abattoirs, that want the government to subsidise their workers because they want all the profit to flow out of the UK.

      3. SM
        May 11, 2022

        Do you ever ask yourself why so many allegedly ready-skilled immigrants wish to come to the UK?
        Or why can’t they get jobs at home if they are intelligent and educated?
        Or what is the matter with so many other countries that their governments are even more incompetent and certainly far more corrupt than the UK’s, thus driving out their own citizens?

      4. Fedupsoutherner
        May 11, 2022

        NLH. Nobody knows if the illegals have any skills until we are lumbered with them.

      5. Mickey Taking
        May 11, 2022

        Immigration.
        ‘And those people come ready-skilled.’
        What skills would those be? Spoken English, medically trained, HGV licenced, metal machining, IT software development, ‘games’ technology, bricklaying, plastering, electricity qualification, UK legally qualified, UK accountancy qualified, UK teaching qualified, lecturing qualifications, Underground or main-line train driving experienced?
        Martin – that is indeed wonderful news. The answer to boosting our economy, and we can afford to pay benefits to those being educated here who, as a result, won’t find a job.

      6. a-tracy
        May 11, 2022

        18% of the employed population in the UK are foreign born in the 3rd quarter of 2021 1 in 7 NHS staff are immigrants.
        17% in Food Prep and other linked skilled trades
        Greater London is particularly reliant on migrant care workers with nearly 3 in 5 of its adult social care workforce (59%) born abroad.
        With 100’s of them illegal according to the Guardian Mar 2008

        Personally, I have no problem with migration, without any benefits, no claims on housing benefit until someone has lived in the UK 16 years, no claims for children not living in the UK. Stop the slave labour tv programs tell us exist in certain farms exploiting people in dirty old caravans.

      7. Lifelogic
        May 11, 2022

        I do not hate the public sector. The public sector workers are however being allowed to get away with delivering generally dire public services, are appallingly misdirected and they are allowed to get away with it. The blame lies with government and senior managers for allowing them to largely live of the back of others while delivering little of any value.

        I do not hate economic migrants either they are behaving rationally given the system the government have in place. I would do the same as they do were I in the same position.

      8. Nottingham Lad Himself
        May 11, 2022

        Look, if you want to cut immigration – and the legal dwarfs the illegal – then don’t elect governments which bend to the private sector’s thirst for it.

        Tories, that is.

        1. Peter2
          May 12, 2022

          Hilarious you simply that Labour and Lib Dems would try to reduce immigration NHL

    3. Narrow Shoulders
      May 11, 2022

      Government that does best, acts least

      Obama was a fine President when he could pass no legislation.

    4. BOF
      May 11, 2022

      +1 LL
      Not all the coming legislation is pointless. Much of it is about power and control, and to curb liberty.

  4. Mark B
    May 11, 2022

    Good morning.

    Should the HoL oppose any attempt to impose UK sovereignty on NI can this be construed as treason ? This is a serious question.

    I did not watch the Queen’s Speech, apart from a few seconds on YT. Even in those few seconds, apart from the obvious, something was missing – The magic of the occasion. Such has been the debasement of our institutions and ceremonies, or is it me just getting old.

    I doubt, like me, few will care what this government promises as nothing it ever says it seems to carry out.

    You’ve got less than two years.

    1. Everhopeful
      May 11, 2022

      +many
      The dodgy powers only see crime where they want to.
      Our national broadcasting company was delightedly trumpeting the changes to tradition.
      Whereas 
.did you see that other nation celebrating?
      No wonder it is so hated and must be destroyed!

    2. Dave Andrews
      May 11, 2022

      Two years, then what? Are people going to vote for Labour with their wooden leader?
      Two years, then Conservatives returned to power with a smaller majority on a low turnout.

      1. Ian Wragg
        May 11, 2022

        Or a minority government that would put a cracker up their abuse to get some really conservative policies under way.
        Bozo is to the left of Blair.

      2. Peter
        May 11, 2022

        Dave Andrews,

        Two years, then no Conservative majority.

        Labour and Lib Dem coalition government is a possibility, though both those parties will initially deny it.

  5. turboterrier
    May 11, 2022

    Definitely no surprises. Just further confirmation that this government like the vast majority of world governments are still strictly aligned to the thoughts and motives of Chairwoman Greta and all the spin offs that entails.

  6. hefner
    May 11, 2022

    Le Canard Enchaine, 11/05/2022 has it on its cover: ‘God save Johnson’: Stanley Johnson, the PM’s father will get the French citizenship on 18th May.
    The office in charge (DACS, Direction des Affaires Civiles et du Sceau, part of Ministry of Justice) reports ‘The request is anchored in a sincere will to reconnect with his French family past, to find a EU citizenship, and symbolically take a view opposite to Brexit’s’.

    I wonder what his son will think of it.
    So many interesting information in LCE and Private Eye.

    1. Lifelogic
      May 11, 2022

      One has to question how attached to Brexit Boris actually is or ever really was. He has not done very much to take advantage of the (sort of) Brexit that has been delivered so far. He still seems addicted to every more unreliable energy, large bloated socialist government, daft HS2 projects and the mirroring of the endless, EU style, over regulation of everything.

      1. Peter
        May 11, 2022

        Johnson was interested in Brexit as a means to become Prime Minister. Now that is achieved he wants little to do with it.

        Instead we get Net Zero and the Great Reset in which he also has little interest, but which he believes will help him advance further after he leaves politics.

        1. Mickey Taking
          May 11, 2022

          yes – perhaps he would like to be President of Europe? – – oh that ship has sailed and sunk.

        2. Paul Cuthbertson
          May 13, 2022

          Peter -Globalist Boris is definitely promoting the Net Zero and the Great Reset agenda.

      2. Ed M
        May 11, 2022

        Brexit is of secondary importance (although still important) to dealing with Pootin.
        A fight with EU is like a fight with Paddington Bear.
        A fight with Pootin is like a fight with the Big Bad Wolf.
        The Wolf wants to intimidate / destroy / devour. Paddington Bear is just a pain in the butt.

    2. Narrow Shoulders
      May 11, 2022

      The Johnsons have a rich history of being contrarians.

      Much like Opposition parties the difficulty with being a contrarian is delivering concrete solutions when given the opportunity. As Stanley Johnson’s son is finding out.

    3. James
      May 11, 2022

      The Queen’s speech did not say anything about the Protocol- wise thing to do – the Royals plan on being here long long after the Tory party has disintegrated. And so Boris is going to take on the might of the EU and the American Administration over NI – well good luck with that

    4. acorn
      May 11, 2022

      “… the flawed underlying Brexiter trade theory means that ‘Saturnian Brexit’ will make life harder for those who voted for it believing that the EU – rather than austerity – was to blame for their grievances. Instead of the unicorns they were promised, all they got are white elephants and an uphill struggle to recover the living standards they had as EU citizens. The local elections, this week, however, show that this Brexit effect has not quite reached the people who voted for it yet.” (Dr Gerhard Schnyder: Loughborough University London)

      1. a-tracy
        May 11, 2022

        Interesting man Dr Schnyder just had a quick look at his blog revealing the “CUNNING PLAN” of the EU and what “TRICKS” and “TRADE BARRIERS” were used: “Rather, what looks at the surface like the best of both worlds for the UK, turns out – upon closer inspection – to be a very cunning solution for the EU to avoid a no-deal Brexit with new tariffs between the common market and the UK without undermining the integrity of the common market.”
        “This allowed the EU to use the following trick to let the British government think (or pretend) it could have its cake while also eating it: The principle of continuing tariff- and quota-free access to the single market is conditional on the continuing alignment of UK rules on EU standards in practice. ”

        There are 3 mechanisms to ensure Brino according to the good Doctor. “Indeed, while trade in goods between the UK and the EU remains duty- and quota free, there is – contrary to the PM’s false statements – a whole host of new non-tariff trade barriers in the form of customs declarations, export health certificates (EHCs), rule of origin checks, conformity check etc. which will be imposed on UK goods going to the Continent.”
        “namely the so-called ‘equivalence’ system that will govern financial services – at least until an agreement on services is concluded. This essentially means that both sides will decide unilaterally whether the other sides financial regulations can be deemed equivalent to one’s own standards and market access can be granted on that basis.”

    5. Roy Grainger
      May 11, 2022

      I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make – why should a father and son have the same political views ?

      1. a-tracy
        May 11, 2022

        NLH prefers Labour Roy, they very much keep politics within the family, half of those in or that had power are related the Milibands, the Benns, the Prescotts, the Kinnocks, the Eagles; there are many more. Their unions give preference to hire the relatives and friends of others in the service. This is how they keep their little fiefdoms.

      2. hefner
        May 11, 2022

        RG, Maybe the same point made when it was reported about a week ago that for the first time a larger number (48,911) of Northern Irish people are getting an Irish passport than the number (48,555) of NI people getting a British one.
        Could it be that people are looking forward to the EU more than to the UK when considering their retirement (Stanley Johnson) or their future opportunities (the Northern Irish with RoI passport)?
        In 2015, only 46,100 such Irish passports were delivered to British residents. Between July 2016 and December 2020, it was 422,000, an average of 93.7 k/year over 4.5 years.

        1. Mickey Taking
          May 12, 2022

          I hope the Johnson supporters follow the example of Stanley Johnson and declare a wish to go and live in France. God speed!

    6. MFD
      May 11, 2022

      I just hope BoJo leaves to join him as well!

    7. Mark B
      May 11, 2022

      Well his son did, FINALLY, renounce his US citizenship and adopt the citizenship of his new country. That and I say much more is in the genes of that family, which is why I would not trust any of them.

      Internationalists /Globalists / Souls without a sense of home. ie No affinity with the country they are in.

  7. DOM
    May 11, 2022

    The EU and Washington have been allowed to outflank a deceitful and compliant Tory PM who has no love NI anyway. In effect, Biden, Johnson and Macron all share the same platform ie a hatred for sovereignty and self-governance

    A Tory PM who says one thing in public while doing the opposite when no one is watching.

    What an inconvenience Brexit has been for the Tory party. Bloody democracy and freedom of expression have become such a problem for the British political class. It makes you wonder why they didn’t abolish it those things decades ago

    1. Everhopeful
      May 11, 2022

      +many
      They didn’t abolish them because THEY invented them as tools of mass manipulation and control.
      As to Brexit. Did anything actually happen?
      I see that Macron is “inviting” Johnson into some new European straightjacket.
      As if we weren’t already in lockstep
..

      1. MWB
        May 11, 2022

        I suppose that Macron wants Britain in some new Eropean periphery, so that we can contribute ÂŁbilliions to the rebuilding of Ukraine, amongst other things.
        The EU is probably rather missing the ÂŁbillions from ‘Treasure Island’.
        How much do we still pay them ?

        1. Ed M
          May 11, 2022

          I really don’t think Macron / France and Europe in general care about the UK one jot at the moment. They’re more focused on the lunatic in Moscow and his nuclear warheads and his enormous chip on his shoulder (as we should be equally concerned – the Pootin problem isn’t just going to go away. Brutal dictators don’t work like that. We need to be showing more solidarity with the rest of Europe and the USA right now and stop petty bickering. How Pootin cheers when he sees us squabbling like this. Brexit is important. But nothing when you’ve got a nutter with access to dangerous weapons).

    2. Shirley M
      May 11, 2022

      +1 DOM

    3. Sir Joe Soap
      May 11, 2022

      Never mind, they have plenty of other socialist draconian ideas up their sleeves in this Queen’s speech. Like catching second home owners between renting to tenants with no possibility to use s21 evictions or paying double Council tax. It really is Corbyn on steroids, and will have extremely adverse consequences for private sector housing availability.

      1. Everhopeful
        May 11, 2022

        +1
        Removal of property rights.
        Either because of their mass immigration policy or facilitated by it.
        As in
”Oh sorry we need to requisition your house. Others need it.”
        It’s being done in Ireland too.
        And where does it end?
        The “Number of Rooms Inspector”??

    4. Hope
      May 11, 2022

      Work in progress Dom. Chinese virus gave them a huge boost how to make public compliant and censor anyone who dares speak out. No mention by JR over censorship bill in the speech, aka on line harm bill to enforce censorship.

      1. Paul Cuthbertson
        May 13, 2022

        Hope -JR is a politician, hence.

    5. BOF
      May 11, 2022

      Laser like comment today DOM. And I love irony.

  8. Everhopeful
    May 11, 2022

    What’s the point of worrying about these larger issues when the govt. is intent on building over our country?
    What will we have left by the time these vandals have finished?
    Nothing.

    1. glen cullen
      May 11, 2022

      Boris doesn’t do detail…he also doesn’t do the big-picture thing….he does what he’s told

      1. Everhopeful
        May 11, 2022

        +10000
        Agreed.
        Lockstep!

      2. Mickey Taking
        May 12, 2022

        Johnson does self-image. Period.

  9. Pud
    May 11, 2022

    Imagine that neither the UK nor the Republic of Ireland were currently EU members and ROI wanted to join. In those circumstances, what conditions would the UK accept regarding Northern Ireland? I suggest none. The UK is in the same position now that we have left the EU, so why accept continued EU control of part of the UK?

  10. Donna
    May 11, 2022

    I certainly wasn’t surprised that there was no Government proposal to reform (or better still, abolish) the unelected, unaccountable, undemocratic, unrepresentative and massively out-of-touch House of Frauds.

    So the conclusion has to be that they WANT the Upper Chamber to have the ability to overturn the Will of the people, as expressed in both a Referendum and several General Elections now.

    Watch what they do …… and don’t bother listening to what they say.

    There is a Parliament Petition for the Government not to sign any proposed Pandemic Treaty unless they are first given permission in a Referendum. 31,700 signatures and counting …… but we must get as many signatures as possible. Please sign:
    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/614335

    Reply There is no Manifesto mandate for Lords reform, no agreed model for reform and a Lords which would dig in against reform.

    1. Donna
      May 11, 2022

      Reply to reply.

      How convenient for the Government.
      Where there’s a Will …….. and THAT’s the problem. (It didn’t stop Blair).

      1. Hope
        May 11, 2022

        Reply to JR, your manifesto is meaningless under your party. There was no mandate to increase taxes but you did. There was a mandate to reduce the number of MPs, how is that going? No mandate for gay marriage, how did that happen? When is the ECHR going to be scrapped, your last three PMs got elected on promise that it would be?

        There was a mandate to leave the EU as one country, no border down the Irish Sea and no checks on goods, it was an oven ready deal. Tell us what happened? No one told him? Did it happen against the rules?

        1. glen cullen
          May 11, 2022

          Spot On

    2. MFD
      May 11, 2022

      Donna , it should be renamed the House of Blairites as they are mostly lefty Labourites he put there!

    3. Mickey Taking
      May 11, 2022

      well we could relocate a ‘Lords’ to some remote location – no trains, no ‘A’ roads, no hotels.
      That might limit the attendance a bit?

    4. BOF
      May 11, 2022

      Reply to reply. Donna is then quite correct!

    5. glen cullen
      May 11, 2022

      Right to Reply
      I thought that the party manifesto and governments Queens speech where (now) only a suggestion of what could be possible in the future a sort of wish-list

  11. Julian Flood
    May 11, 2022

    There is a solution to a rebellious HoL
    The train connection from Diss to London is reliable, I am sound on the Protocol, defence, energy and agriculture. I stand ready to serve my country. (insert smiley here)

    JF

  12. The Prangwizard
    May 11, 2022

    Boris will betray Northern Ireland and the people there who are loyal to the UK, and in particular those whose family members and friends have been murdered defending it. But Boris doesn’t care, he has no feelings along those lines.

    His only feelings concern subjects where he can get personal publicity and gain, so he goes off on another awayday.

    He has his next international political position in his sights before his failures here get to his doorstep.

  13. Sir Joe Soap
    May 11, 2022

    May standing up to stop us moving standard goods and food about within our own country without checks and bureaucracy was an appalling sight. Doesn’t she understand the meaning of taking back control?

    1. BOF
      May 11, 2022

      Indeed Sir Joe Soap. Her whole tenure was all about NOT taking back control!

    2. Paul Cuthbertson
      May 13, 2022

      Traitor May is a globalist puppet along with Boris.

  14. Nigl
    May 11, 2022

    38 Bills. Huffery and puffery?

    I look forward to hearing in a believable explanation how any of them will improve our every day lives.

    At present ‘we don’t believe you’ still pertains.

    1. glen cullen
      May 11, 2022

      Levelling Up Secretary Gove suggested that while we could cut VAT we NEVER would as it’s a universal tool; ‘a Duke would get the same savings as a Pleb’ Sky News Kay Burley Interview today

  15. miami.mode
    May 11, 2022

    …. Stories in the press……

    This comment plus your many tweets suggest Conservative MPs are as much in the dark about and have as much influence on government policy as the rest of us. Not so much strong government but more akin to a Politburo.

    1. X-Tory
      May 11, 2022

      Yes, I was thinking the same thing. If I were a Tory MP I would find it intolerable to be treated like a mushroom in this way by my own party leader – ie. kept in the dark and fed bullsh*t. I thought Boris had agreed to work more cooperatively with the backbenchers. Another broken promise!

      1. Hope
        May 11, 2022

        They condone his law breaking lying behaviour. If they did not he would be gone.

      2. Mickey Taking
        May 11, 2022

        did Johnson actually say that? What was he thinking!

    2. glen cullen
      May 11, 2022

      I’d propose that any new policy should receive 2/3’s acceptance by Tory MPs in a free anonymous electronic vote (maybe whatsapp)
.just to establish that any new policy has the backing of the majority of the party

  16. John Smith
    May 11, 2022

    Please be aware that it is not possible for the UK to legislate to “sort out” the interpretation of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Any such legislation has no effect whatsoever on the Protocol. What the Protocol means is up to the ECJ – as the UK freely agreed in Boris’s oven ready deal. Time for you people who “got Brexit done” to face up to what you did

    reply The ECJ only has a power if U.K. legislation allows it

    1. Gary Megson
      May 11, 2022

      John Smith is right. John Redwood is wrong. The Protocol is an international Treaty freely agreed between the EU and the UK (it is the oven ready deal). The Protocol keeps Northern Ireland under EU rules and under the supervision of the ECJ. End of story. If UK legislation goes against this, then that UK legislation is a breach international law, and it has not one iota of effect on the rules agreed in the Protocol

      Reply If you read it you would understand the EU is not implementing it

      1. John Smith
        May 11, 2022

        It’s fine John, if you think the EU is not implementing it, you can bring a case before a court and eventually the ECJ will decide. That’s the way disputes under the Protocol are handled, that’s what the Uk agreed to, that’s what you voted for in the Commons in January 2020. Why don’t you do that? What you can’t do is legislate your own view of what the Protocol means. Neither side, EU or UK, can make its own unilateral changes to the Protocol. If they try, they are 100% ineffective

    2. Wacko
      May 11, 2022

      Reply to reply – and vice versa

  17. BeebTax
    May 11, 2022

    I’ve seen worrying reports that the proposed Bill of Rights and the Online Harms Bill could lead to much more power for Government (and it’s agencies) to ban what it deems is misinformation or harmful information , as well as curtail protests.

    Most people would sigh with relief if Extinction Rebellion are stopped from blocking the M25, but what about protests against pandemic policy, going to war, erosion of civil liberties, etc?

    1. Shirley M
      May 11, 2022

      We have already seen double standards applied to protests. Some are allowed to cause severe hardship by blocking ambulances, to vandalise with impunity and attack the police and their horses, while others are imprisoned for comparably minor offences (eg. peeing in public). No wonder trust in the police and the justice system is at an all time low.

  18. Richard1
    May 11, 2022

    Sir John, How do you assess the EU’s threat of a trade war in retaliation for such a move – how possible or likely is this and what damage would it do to the U.K.? What defence would we have against such a move?

    1. X-Tory
      May 11, 2022

      Firstly, the Protocol is an entirely separate agreement to the TCA, which regulates trade. So if the EU impose trade restrictions it would be THEM who would be acting in breach of our bilateral agreements.

      And in any case it is very simple to forestall any such repercussions by simply announcing beforehand that if the EU take any retaliatory action we will instantly ban ALL EU fishing boats from British waters. They would certainly want to avoid that.

      1. Wokingham Jim
        May 11, 2022

        We hold all the cards!
        Brilliant mate, haven’t heard that for a while.So if we hold all the cards, why is it all going so badly and the EU and the US are kicking sand in our face?

  19. Freeborn John
    May 11, 2022

    A large delegation needs to visit the PM to insist on action this day to repeal the Northern Ireland protocol. Endless prevarication is equivalent to self-deterring against Putin in that it just encourages bad behaviour from Brussels.

    1. miami.mode
      May 11, 2022

      FJ, not much point when the PM is off to Sweden and Finland. It’s so much more exciting to get involved in a European war scenario with countries that are in the EU than to sort out the mundane problems of the UK.

      1. Ed M
        May 11, 2022

        ‘European war scenario’
        – It’s not a European war scenario it’s a war. And Pootin will not stop at Ukraine if he gets his way. But it’s not just about Pootin, it’s about any future tyrant in Europe trying to do the same again. We thought this kind of tyrannical behaviour was something from the past. But it isn’t. Ppptin is another Stalin / Hitler.

        1. Ed M
          May 11, 2022

          Saying that we still have to be careful. But you still have to stand up to a bully. Not throw oil on his fire of madness. But nor cower back thinking he will just go away.

        2. Paul Cuthbertson
          May 13, 2022

          EdM – Why are the UK, EU, UN,NATO and “Biden’s US” so concerned about Ukraine, a MOST Corrupt nation. Too much to hide, however the time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed and all that is secret will be made known to all.

  20. Walt
    May 11, 2022

    Sir John, may I draw your attention to an article on the front page of today’s Financial Times, which describes our veterinary surgeons’ concerns about our government and DEFRA delaying by 18 months the introduction of checks on imported EU animals and animal products. It appears that diseased Romanian pigs are the current main concern; also that, as our vets are no longer in the EU vets’ briefing loop, a diseased German cow was only intercepted by luck, because it was injured in transit.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      May 11, 2022

      Walt. What you say is extremely concerning. Farmers are having a tough enough time as it is without any more imported problems

    2. a-tracy
      May 11, 2022

      Sir John, do we have the ability to fine the EU if they do send diseased animals such as the Cow mentioned to us from Germany? What protections were built in if Rees Mogg wants to extend the checks on imported EU animals?

  21. Denis Cooper
    May 11, 2022

    It has occurred to me that although in reality what we need are “alternative arrangements” to protect the EU Single Market, which once proven in practice could replace the obnoxious elements in the NI protocol which are notionally intended to fulfil that purpose, it would be better to present that proposal in a rather different way, maybe as “auxiliary” or “ancillary” protection of the EU Single Market. In the end the best I came up with was a “backup system of export controls” designed to catch non-compliant goods which had slipped through one of the two parallel nets of a) EU checks and controls on all imports into Northern Ireland and b) EU checks and controls on all individuals and businesses in the province. Surely the Irish government and the EU, and their supporters in this country, most especially in Parliament, could not reasonably object to a proposal for enhanced protection of the precious Single Market of the magnificent EU to which they are all so utterly devoted. I would be happy to receive any other suggestions for the best way to present this proposal, preferably before I drop a line to the Irish Prime Minister just to check that they would not mind terribly if the UK passed additional UK laws for that purpose. They would be UK laws to be applied only in UK territory and always well away from the UK’s side of the land border with the Republic, that border which is generally recognised as an international border but one which Irish politicians like to pretend does not exist and which they insist should never be allowed to “re-emerge”.

    1. Gary Megson
      May 11, 2022

      Denis, it’s over. The Protocol is agreed, Boris agreed it. The EU is not making any more concessions

      1. acorn
        May 11, 2022

        I think the EU alone will decide how its single market will be operated and protected; plus, where its international frontiers will be, not some pompous arrogant Brexit treaty breakers

        1. Denis Cooper
          May 11, 2022

          Fine, then let them put in place whatever they may deem is necessary to check and control incoming goods on their side of that international border, which exists whether or not you like that fact. As I have said in the past it was an error on the part of Theresa May to gratuitously accept responsibility for ensuring that the EU did not erect a hard border on their side.

        2. acorn
          May 11, 2022

          It’s time to let the fantasy of the “British nation” die. The one and only time the UK has been a British nationhood was between 1945 to 1975. Globalisation and economic integration with Europe put an end to that. In fact being a member of the EU has been the glue that has held the UK together through the de-industrialisation of the last four decades. The following are quotes from David Edgerton (@DEHEdgerton) professor of history at Kings College London.

          “The idea of breaking up the union isn’t quite as outrageous as it might seem. The “United Kingdom” is neither ancient nor stable. Before 1945, “national” Irish, Welsh, Scottish and English identities were for many not local varieties of national Britishness but part of something much bigger: an imperial identity.”

          “It is this decaying British nationalism, a leftover from the 1970s, that is now disrupting the union, not the self-conscious Scottish, Irish and Welsh versions. Strong in England but weak elsewhere, with the exception of a handful of hard-core unionists in Northern Ireland, this British nationalism manifested itself in the calls for Brexit, from before the 2016 referendum and up to today. The Brexiteers wrongly believe that independence from the European Union will make the United Kingdom great again.”

          “The young people of England, like those in the rest of Britain, overwhelmingly supported remaining in the European Union. They also understand we need liberation from the practices of Westminster and Whitehall, not Brussels, and from the self-defeating rage of the old.”

          “Only a few decades ago, a new United Kingdom emerged from the empire. Now, by forcing the breakup of the union, the old — drinking deep the delusions of British nationalism — may make it possible for a new England to emerge from the United Kingdom.”

          1. Denis Cooper
            May 12, 2022

            He is entitled to his view, however erroneous and however irrelevant to the present discussion which is premised on Northern Ireland still being a part of the UK and the land border still being the international border between the UK and the Irish Republic.

        3. Peter2
          May 11, 2022

          International frontiers are as drawn and on maps.
          Not even your beloved EU can fiddle with those acorn.

          1. acorn
            May 12, 2022

            Look up the difference between frontiers, borders and boundaries.

          2. Peter2
            May 12, 2022

            Another irrelevant point from you acorn just as Denis has said above.
            So obviously desperate is your desire to return to EU subservience that you would ignore any internationally agreed border to suit your ambitions.

      2. Denis Cooper
        May 11, 2022

        There is no EU concession required for the UK to pass domestic legislation for export controls.

        However it is interesting that you openly admit that the EU is adopted an intransigent attitude.

      3. a-tracy
        May 11, 2022

        Gary,
        I read today that the Northern Ireland Protocol is not in the Trade Agreement.

        That the NIP is in the Withdrawal Agreement separate from the Trade Deal.

        The ability to be renegotiated is within the agreement article 13.8.

        Hopefully this hopeless government is seeking alternative supply chains and when they are ready they can take the yoke off.

        there are plenty of legal routes to amend this Protocol. Article 13.8 allows change but needs EU agreement. Article 16 allow unilateral changes. Clause 38 of our Withdrawal Act which gives the Treaty force in U.K. law allows unilateral override. We did know what we were doing in placing all these safeguards of our sovereignty into these docs. Article 138 the good faith article of the WA can also be used as the EU has demonstrably failed to act in good faith on NI.

    2. James
      May 11, 2022

      Denis Cooper – All of the “alternative arrangements” have been talked through ad nauseum- if we mess with this agreement now we can have no way of knowing how it will all end up. Brexit was championed by the DUP against the wishes of the majority and business in NI – at the time they had no way of knowing how it would all end up, but see the mess now

      1. Denis Cooper
        May 11, 2022

        Stupidly, the Irish government and the EU were allowed to veto any alternatives.

  22. Bloke
    May 11, 2022

    Lords who support the EU may have good intent. Those of them who persistently place the interests of the EU above those of the UK, our elected representatives and the will of our people should be removed.

    Paying and enabling such anti-UK activists to delay, hamper and obstruct Britain & Northern Ireland from operating efficiently, safely and peacefully is folly. Repeat offenders should be disciplined or banned.

    The EU often presents a nuisance of its own. Freedom enables our means to prevent it restricting us in the way it did before.

  23. Roy Grainger
    May 11, 2022

    The fact the NI protocol issue wasn’t in the speech indicates it won’t be addressed – Truss will talk tough and float some idea or other and then the Lords and legal establishment will intervene and it will all get delayed and watered down and in the end nothing will happen.

    Same for Patel’s announcement that the first illegal immigrants will “be told” soon that they are going to Rwanda. It is certain that come the next election not a single one will be actually IN Rwanda.

    In both cases Boris will just say “we tried” even though I imagine he’ll be secretly happy he failed.

    1. Peter
      May 11, 2022

      RG,

      Agreed.

  24. Fedupsoutherner
    May 11, 2022

    It’s all a waste of everyone’s time. We’ll be lucky if a small percentage of what is proposed gets done. Even then it will be the trivial crap tgat makes no difference to anyone whike the really important stuff gets overlooked. We’ve been here for the last 12 years.

    1. SM
      May 11, 2022

      +1

  25. paul
    May 11, 2022

    You can not have a united kingdom inside a one world government, it does not woork, you should know that.

  26. X-Tory
    May 11, 2022

    Correct me if I am wrong, Sir John, but aren’t treaties a matter of royal prerogative? The government does not need parliamentary approval to make or end treaties.

    If House of Lords approval IS required then this just reinforces the need as I have said before, to appoint 100 new Lords who can be completely relied upon.

    But I think the real problem is Boris the Traitor, who is unwilling to stand up for Britain and the British people.

    1. John Smith
      May 11, 2022

      Let me correct you. A treaty, once made, can be ended according to its terms or by the agreement of both parties. So, no, the government cannot end this Treaty or any other – unless the Treaty allows it to be ended by one party only, which the Withdrawal Agreement does not. Boris agreed the Protocol, it was the oven ready deal and it cannot be ended or changed unilaterally by the UK (or the EU).

      ReplyThe Treaty only has force thanks to U.K. legislation. Clause 38 of the Withdrawal Act expressly reserves the rights of Parliament to overrule or amend as needed. Mrs May refused to put in this unilateral safeguard so lost her job. She said it undermined the strength of the Treaty!

  27. John Miller
    May 11, 2022

    Actions speak louder than words. Now that Johnson’s actions have betrayed him he has no chance of a second term. But he must not be allowed to destroy the reputations of those he may see as competitors. It’s the voters choice as to who is PM, not another politician.

    1. Mark B
      May 11, 2022

      John

      We do not vote for a PM we vote for political parties. But perhaps it is now time that we did and separate the Executive from the Legislature.

  28. Denis Cooper
    May 11, 2022

    According to a White House spokeswoman:

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/joe-biden-urges-boris-johnson-not-to-rip-up-northern-ireland-protocol-vnv3k2cjr

    “The best path forward is a pragmatic one that requires courage, co-operation and leadership”

    Somebody should tell her, and Joe Biden, that just that kind of path was offered to the EU by former EU Commission Director-General Sir Jonathan Faull and two law professors in August 2019:

    https://verfassungsblog.de/an-offer-the-eu-and-uk-cannot-refuse/

    “An Offer the EU and UK Cannot Refuse”

    “This proposal, which includes features which have never been discussed, will guarantee the integrity and autonomy of the EU’s and UK’s respective customs and regulatory territories, and will require neither a Customs Union between the two unless that is the wish of both, nor a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.”

    And this was the reaction of the EU:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49488844

    “Brexit: Backstop plan by Sir Jonathan Faull dismissed by EU”

    “EU officials have poured cold water on alternative proposals for the Brexit backstop by a former British European Commission official.”

    He had another go on his own in July 2001 with this letter:

    https://www.ft.com/content/6923b4b7-6e4a-41f0-a22f-70459db3cd7f

    “A dual autonomy approach would help with the Northern Ireland protocol”

    but with no greater success.

    My suggestion is that the UK should go ahead unilaterally and carry out its half of the plan, the half which would protect the integrity of EU Single Market, and having shown that it is workable and does not spark off Irish republican terrorism then proceed to unilaterally disapply the unacceptable elements of the protocol.

    It could have been started last July with the passage of the new UK laws envisaged in the Command Paper.

    1. Denis Cooper
      May 11, 2022

      Correction: “He had another go on his own in July 2021 with this letter … “

  29. Wacko
    May 11, 2022

    So today we have another example of Boris doing his own thing – off to Finland and Sweden to sign defence pacts without consulting the rest of us – so now if we are drawn in I do hope that Boris will be the first to sign up – “your country needs you” -he really should sign up early so that they can put him on the front line where he’ll have a good view of things.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      May 11, 2022

      “Aw bless” as some would say.

  30. Paul Cuthbertson
    May 12, 2022

    Forget the so called “Queens” speech. Just be aware of the WHO conference in Davos, 22 -26 May and what your Globalist government will sign up to.

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