Time to restore GB/Northern Ireland trade

The BBC and other media swamp us with the EU view on the Protocol. Most of the interviewers clearly have not read the document. If they had they would be asking the EU

1 Why have the completely alienated the Unionist community leading to the breakdown of the Assembly Executive? This breaks the Protocol’s support for the Good Friday Agreement.

2. Why do they presume to place controls and obstacles in the way of GB to NI trade when the Protocol expressly supports the integrity of the UK’s  internal market?

3. Why did they sign up to the Protocol under the Withdrawal Agreement which under EU law was not allowed to tackle the post Brexit relationship? Why did they help create Article 13.8 which recognised the potential need to change or abolish the Protocol?

4. Article 16 expressly allows U.K. unilateral action where there has been damage to the community and or economy of NI, as the Unionists  demonstrate there has.

5. Clause 38 of the Withdrawal Act which gives legal force to the Agreement in the U.K. expressly allows the U.K. Parliament to override the Agreement where necessary. If it had not quite a few Conservative MPs who want a sovereign U.K. would not have voted for it.

6. Article 186 of the Withdrawal Agreement requires good faith by both parties. The EU has not shown this in relation to the guarantees in the document to respect U.K. sovereignty and internal market

 

It is absurd that U.K. supermarkets cannot ship items to NI as easily as to any place in GB. It is completely wrong that the EU can stop the U.K. cutting VAT in NI. It is outrageous that the EU pushes through huge amounts of new law that has to be applied in NI when they have no say in its making. The government must act. There  are several ways of doing so legally. It is the EU which is failing to uphold the Protocol.

Protocol. “The Good Friday Agreement…should be protected in all its parts”

“shall use best endeavours to facilitate the trade between NI and other parts of the U.K.”

“should impact as little as possible on the everyday life of communities”

“The importance of maintaining the integral place of NI in the UKs internal market”

etc

 

233 Comments

  1. Lifelogic
    May 12, 2022

    Exactly.

    Allister Heath today:- “Brexit Britain can defeat Brussels’s vicious attempt at trade war blackmail
    The EU is seeking to use the Protocol to punish the UK. We should fight back with hardcore capitalism”

    Alas not much chance of this with Boris and Sunak who are clearly nothing remotely like hardcore capitalists, more like wet, green crap pushing, tax, borrow, inflate and regulate to death socialists.

    1. James1
      May 12, 2022

      Can anyone imagine Churchill or Thatcher putting up with the NI Protocol?

      1. Len Peel
        May 12, 2022

        I can’t. They would have agreed it in the first place. Boris and Truss did

        1. Geoffrey Berg
          May 12, 2022

          As John Redwood has pointed out here the Northern Ireland Protocol agreement itself was not that bad as it gave us a way out(Article 16) in case it ended up with major problems as has happened due to the bad faith of the E.U. Boris Johnson should actually get a lot of credit for having negotiated an agreement that gives us a unilateral escape clause within it.
          Unfortunately our politicians (including many so-called ‘Conservatives’ like Theresa May) and our mass media are not prepared to support the British government’s interpretation which as John Redwood points out is unambiguously the correct interpretation. They would rather support the anti-British (especially E.U.) view almost all the time, and even more so when Boris Johnson has done a good job for Britain.

          1. Gary Megson
            May 13, 2022

            Art 16 is only described as a “way out” by people who haven’t read it. Try reading it Geoffrey, try reading it John Redwood

            Reply Stupid slogans are no substitute for analysis. I have quoted texts.

          2. Nottingham Lad Himself
            May 13, 2022

            The simple fact is that the NI Parliament backs the protocol by 53:37, which reflects the electoral result very closely.

            The hypocrisy of those who squealed endlessly about the UK’s Parliament having some regard for people besides the extreme fringe of even then the minority -26% – of the population who voted Leave is utterly nauseating.

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        May 12, 2022

        They would not have been so daft as to advocate leaving Thatcher’s creation, the Single Market.

        So no…

        Reply The single was not Thatchers creation and alleged to have been completed under John Major when I was the U.K. Single market Minister. I spent much of my time trying to stop or water down undesirable regulation proposed to increase EU power.

        1. Lifelogic
          May 12, 2022

          To reply:- exactly but even after leaving the EU masses of undesirable regulations and laws spew forth doing immense net harm to people, productivity, investment, jobs the economy.

      3. Hope
        May 12, 2022

        Johnson must go. How much is it costing us?

        £2 billion of our taxes wasted on Ukraine. UK being biggest contributor to one of the most corrupt countries in the world! Cost of living JR!

        Why is Johnson stirring up trouble for war by trying to get Finland and Sweden in NATO! This is EU expansionism.

      4. Nottingham Lad Himself
        May 13, 2022

        They would not have used the populist gimmick of a referendum in the first place.

        Especially Churchill, after seeing their effect and use in Germany, I doubt.

      5. Ed M
        May 14, 2022

        Churchill and Thatcher were passionate followers of the Rule of Law.
        Only fake strong ‘Alpha’ men (and women) flout the Rule of Law.
        Civilisation crumbles without the Rule of Law.
        Now the Rule of Law might be lousy at times. But then you just have to fight it. Not over-ride it.

    2. Richard1
      May 12, 2022

      That’s the point. No chance of the U.K. responding like that so those advocating a hardline approach need to explain how we will deal with the EU’s retaliatory measures.

      1. MFD
        May 12, 2022

        By ignoring them, Richard!
        We dont NEED anything from the eu, we can trade with countries which are trustworthy.

      2. dixie
        May 12, 2022

        You have it bass akward, the EU got it’s retaliation in ahead of time aided and abetted by it’s supporters in the civil service and government, they are the ones who have still to justify and defend their hardline EU approach.

        Hardline approacheds could have been avoided all round but for the EU and acolytes who have sought to punish the UK from the very start.

    3. Everhopeful
      May 12, 2022

      + spot on!

    4. Sir Joe Soap
      May 12, 2022

      Yes it seems they are caught between nicey nicey socialism and sucking up to the EU, and actually having to take a stand on the principles they were voted in on. Alamo approaches.

    5. Lifelogic
      May 12, 2022

      It seems the economic illiterate socialist Sunak is planning to go ahead with an idiotic windfall tax on oil companies – so as to deter investment in new production and push up oil prices even further one assumes. More sensible would be to kill all subsidies for renewables as they have had extra profits from higher prices too.

      BP has had to write off ~ $25.5 billion holding in Rosneft too.

    6. Ed M
      May 12, 2022

      ‘hardcore capitalists’

      – Who wants hardcore capitalism? (BORING)
      Hardcore capitalism is an obsession with money. Hardcore capitalism is about being a SLAVE to money.
      Where as healthy capitalism is about being the MASTER of money. Where money serves us.
      Could be because we want to go on a nice holiday to Bali and have great s-x with the wife. Or take her on adventure through the Aztec rainforest. Or smoke a good cigar with friends on the beach in Cornwall, and then try a bit of surfing in the waves, perhaps. Buy a beautiful painting on a visit to Oxford. Send our kids to a good school. Or go to the races and splash out on bets and champagne. Or help a friend out in need. Give some money to the poo. Whatever. And overall, we need money to create a culture and civilisation around. But here again, money is for serving us. Not the other way around.

    7. DavidJ
      May 12, 2022

      +1

  2. Mark B
    May 12, 2022

    Good morning.

    If the NI Protocol is so bad why did we sign it ? Why did we negotiate such loose terms as, ‘best endeavours’ which means really nothing as it allows to the EU to set the standard of its own actions, and block any UK action. The wording in that document is too loose and ambiguous leading to wide interpretation.

    The UK fudged this and is now paying for it as the economy tanks and the popularity of both its leader and the government falls.

    If the solution to the UK/NI problem is in the governments grasp, then why has is not taken it ?

    1. Lifelogic
      May 12, 2022

      May with her botched early election and Labour, Libdims, the SNP the very many Benn Act Traitors especially the appalling Tory ones and the highly political supreme court left such an appalling mess behind them Boris had little choice. The treaty however has escape mechanisms where the EU are abusing it – as they clearly are doing.

      1. Denis Cooper
        May 12, 2022

        Correct about the Benn Act, which was built upon the foundation of the lies told about the economic benefits of EU membership, and the damage we would suffer if we left the EU without a special trade deal:

        http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/05/09/change-the-protocol/?unapproved=1317713&moderation-hash=11e0b8bbbdf50a5e0cbcbd8d40702c9f#comment-1317713

        “Which suggests that the current EU projection also overstates the UK’s loss due to no longer being in the Single Market, and it should really be more like a 2% long term erosion of economic growth if we had left on WTO terms.

        That 2% would in turn tie in with advice given to the German government in 2017 by another research body, that if the UK left the EU without any special trade deal, simply defaulting to the basic WTO treaties, then that would cost us 1.7% of GDP over the long term.”

        And let’s not forget that she gratuitously accepted responsibility for ensuring that the EU and the Irish government did not erect a “hard border” on their side:

        http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/10/16/how-not-to-negotiate-with-the-eu/#comment-966790

        thereby effectively giving them a veto over any proposal which did not serve their interests:

        http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/05/11/no-surprises-in-queens-speech/?unapproved=1318124&moderation-hash=b6c1dc1540b89038458f9b063cec7241#comment-1318124

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

        And also that she too dismissed such proposals, in my view because she wanted to use the largely fabricated problem of the Irish land border as a pretext for giving business lobby groups most of what they wanted.

      2. formula57
        May 12, 2022

        @ LifeLogic – well said!

      3. Peter
        May 12, 2022

        With an 80 seat majority you cannot fall back on the excuse that it is still the fault of Mrs. May.

        Johnson is a careerist and will do whatever is necessary to further his own interests. If that means taking care not to upset President Biden or Davos globalists then so be it.

        1. rose
          May 12, 2022

          With an 80 seat majority you can still get sabotaged – as we saw over the Internal Market Bill which was the first attempt to undo the damage done under the duress of the Benn Burt Surrender Act. And as we will see over the Rwandan project and any legislation to bring back national autonomy over the matter of illegal immigration. There are still prigs in the Conservative Parliamentary Party who mind more about what their counterparts abroad think than about what their constituents think, as we saw, for another example, over Foreign Aid. The ruling class on the Mainland is treacherous to its most loyal subjects. The Americans and Continentals get at them and call them colonialist about N Ireland, and they are too wet to stand up to them and teach them a history lesson or two. And they are too thick to understand that if they let NI go, they will lose Scotland and Wales. Would any of the foreign governments they are in awe of be so insouciant about holding on to part of their countries? The NI Office appears to be stuffed full of republicans but it is really just that they regard it all as too much trouble and want to get shot of it. They are a shameful and a rotten lot, living up to their French nickname of Perfidious Albion.

          1. Peter
            May 12, 2022

            Rose,
            With the will to do something and an 80 seat majority then things get done.

            The problem is there is no real will to push things through.

            Don’t forget many of the trouble makers have already been forced out of parliament. A driven Government would make sure there were consequences for intransigents.

          2. No Longer Anonymous
            May 12, 2022

            Rose

            No point in giving the Tories an 80 seat majority again then.

          3. rose
            May 12, 2022

            We could have a Starmer/Sturgeon coalition instead and end up with PR and a permanent EU coalition government of one kind or another. Be careful what you throw away.

          4. Nottingham Lad Himself
            May 13, 2022

            Nice admission of your anti-democratic intentions Rose – thanks.

          5. rose
            May 13, 2022

            Nothing democratic about PR, NLH. It means dirty deals stitched up behind closed doors without the electorate having a say. You can see it all over the EU. People think they have voted out the government, and then there they still are, up to six months later, the same old faces looking really pleased with themselves. Democracy means being able to turn the government out, as well as vote it in. And it means everyone being able to see it done.

        2. Pauline Baxter
          May 12, 2022

          Peter. I fear you are right there.
          Boris Johnson’s actions so far, in all respects, seem to lead to, sabotaging the U.K. in order to polish his Globalist Credentials.

          1. No Longer Anonymous
            May 12, 2022

            Pauline.

            It IS globalism pure and simple.

            A lack of interest in the mundane and a love of war time rhetoric.

            Alas Boris had to plagiarise a Churchill speech and couldn’t deliver a quality one of his own.

            We – the British – are now at loggerheads with nuclear armed Russia in order that Ukraine may join the EU (among other organisations) while we cannot leave it for fear of a few terrorists armed with IEDs.

            Way to go Boris.

    2. Nigl
      May 12, 2022

      Re the first part, they accepted a flawed doc as we now see to get the bigger deal through. As for the second agree totally.it is now the political situation in NI focussing their minds. Without that Boris thought he could do his usual BS approach laced with meaningless threats and it would go away.

      1. Ian Wragg
        May 12, 2022

        Bluster bluster bluster is Bozo s approach
        Now we have a genuine problem we will be able to judge him on his response.
        I’m not optimistic.

    3. Everhopeful
      May 12, 2022

      +Exactly
      I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if they had wanted this delaying muddle.
      They can order us about and cause us great harm but will not whisper a tiny “Boo” to any other goose.

    4. Peter
      May 12, 2022

      Mark B,

      True. We have endless talk of measures to resolve the situation but no action.

      Buying time and foolishly hoping that eventually we learn to put up with it.

    5. Peter Wood
      May 12, 2022

      Mark B, Well said. The logic is clear, Bunter and Frost both knew the problems it was going to cause but signed it anyway. That’s Bunter’s style; he’s a gambler, so long as it’s someone else’s problem to sort out when it goes bad.

      To get anything out of the EU, there must be something in it for them, either they lose something more valuable or gain something. So which route for us? My guess is Bunter will bend-over, and then claim success, to the cost of all of us.

      1. John Hatfield
        May 12, 2022

        Frost didn’t sign the Withdrawal Agreement, Peter.

    6. Sharon
      May 12, 2022

      The NI protocol had to be signed, as it was, because the remainers were fighting so hard to use our own laws to break the law, to stop us from leaving the EU…they’d have succeeded.

      The NI protocol is twofold… 1) to leave a back door into the UK to make rejoining easier, 2) makes a reunited Ireland more likely.

      That’s my understanding of the situation.

      But the situation could have been resolved by triggering article 16. The legalities of this were and are valid to do so.

      1. None of the Above
        May 12, 2022

        Well Said Sharon!

        I am dismayed by the number of commentators in this debate with short and/or selective memories. As Lord Frost told Nigel Farage on GB News yesterday (I paraphrase) as soon as the Benn Act was given Royal Assent the atmosphere of negotiations with the EU changed.
        The EU must have been jubilant at the prospect of forcing the UK into a deal of their liking.

        My recommendation, for what it is worth, is to invoke Art 16 now to rectify the situation and then dig in for the battle with the antidemocratic upper house over the legislative changes. Prepare to use the Parliament Act if necessary and draft a Reform Bill for that troublesome House of Peers.

        1. Pauline Baxter
          May 12, 2022

          None of the Above.
          Interesting. Is it the House of Lords Bojo is frightened of? If so, as you say there is a way to deal with them.
          Or is it retaliation from E.U.?
          If that, well what can they actually do to us?
          I honestly don’t know but I suspect not a lot.
          I just can not understand why article 16 has not been invoked long before now.
          Lord Frost showed very clearly that doing so would not break any International Law.

          1. rose
            May 12, 2022

            The problem is within the Conservative and Unionist Parliamentary Party itself. Although quite a number had the whip withdrawn and subsequently lost their seats, there are still enough left to wreck Brexit, as we saw over the Internal Market Bill. Even the Northern Irish Secretary himself helped to sabotage it.

      2. MFD
        May 12, 2022

        Exactly Sharon, why all the talk and no action— cowardice i believe!

      3. anon
        May 12, 2022

        Post election , the EU delayed signing, that presented plenty opportunity to reverse course for a clean break.

    7. Dave Andrews
      May 12, 2022

      They do nothing because they don’t care about NI. They will compass land and sea to preserve the England-Scotland Union, but are quite prepared to cut NI loose.
      How odd, the part of the UK where they defend their citizenship with the most zeal, others conspire to take it from them.
      Anti-UK rhetoric is popular in the MSM, so the government thinks it’s cool to go along with it.

    8. Sharon
      May 12, 2022

      Struggling to post… will try again.

      The NI protocol had to be signed, as it was, because the remainers were fighting so hard to use our own laws to break the law, to stop us from leaving the EU…they’d have succeeded.

      The NI protocol is twofold… 1) to leave a back door into the UK to make rejoining easier, 2) makes a reunited Ireland more likely.

      That’s my understanding of the situation.

      But the situation could have been resolved by triggering article 16. The legalities of this were and are valid to do so.

    9. George Brooks.
      May 12, 2022

      You have got one heck of a short memory Mark B.

      We were in the third year, post referendum, with the Remainers led by PM May gathering strength to destroy Brexit and Boris rescued it in 4 months and got it across the line in the January. It never could be perfect but Boris was not unreasonable in expecting that the EU would have some degree of ”good faith”. Clearly they haven’t and we have every right to replace the protocol.

      We have had two years of delay in implementation because of the unexpected pandemic which Boris and his team got us through remarkably well and now we can gain the benefit of the Brexit advantages.

      One cannot comprehend the utter mess we would have been in should we have been led by either May or Starmer for these last 3 years

      1. Mark B
        May 13, 2022

        I remember many things including things that you seem to have forgotten.

        Theresa May MP calling an election when we had no need to and losing her majority. Endlessly stating that the UK will Leave on a certain date and not doing so. Standing candidates in a Europarl election when she said we would not be doing so and, losing most of her MEP’s in the process and then getting, finally, ousted. The long drawn out resignation and Leader competition which allowed her to do things with little or no scrutiny.

        As for the 2 years in the SCAMDEMIC ? PM Alexander Johnson managed to bring huge legislation in a very rapid period of time to lockdown the country. He had enough time to have a birthday party and cake but, if we are to follow your narrative that the country suddenly stood still for the period of time, did little else. No ! The country did not stop as Lord Frost was negotiating with the EU in that time. He, Lord Frost, resigned because PM Alexander Johnson would not back him and invoke Article 16 totally undermining his negotiating position with the EU.

        I have not forgotten anything. It is just writing even some of what went on takes up our kind hosts time in moderation and causes further delays in posting. He asks that I and others keep things brief and not to post links. So that is why I give an abridged version of what ‘I think’. So if you don’t like it, may I suggest you take up the matter with him.

        Sorry for the long reply, Sir John. Please feel free to put it up whenever you like, I’d doubt he will read it.

        1. George Brooks.
          May 13, 2022

          Wow I did touch a raw nerve!!!!!! and 16 lines of narrative to tell me!!!!!

    10. glen cullen
      May 12, 2022

      Your last sentence is the best question to date ref NIP

      1. Mark B
        May 13, 2022

        glen

        As I said on these pages before. When Sir Winston Churchill wrote in green pen; “Action this day !” He meant it and no one argued or dilly dallied. He was a man of decisive action and because of that people knew that things that were to be done got done !

        Can’t say the same of the current incumbent of Number 10, Downing Street can we ?

        This farce must end.

  3. DOM
    May 12, 2022

    The Tory party is not on our side but on the side of itself standing firmly with Biden, the EU, the BBC and Labour

    1. Javelin
      May 12, 2022

      Spot on. The Tory Party has abandoned Disraeli’s genius at bringing the nationalist working class onboard and is trying to win over Gladstone’s upper middle class wannabe socialists. An electoral disaster in the making.

      1. glen cullen
        May 12, 2022

        Good summary of their intent

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        May 14, 2022

        Well, they take for granted the teeth-grinding rabble of Daily Express readers and the like, and well they might. They’re beyond help.

        They’re losing voters in droves in places like North Shropshire, Amersham and Cheshunt though.

        1. Peter2
          May 14, 2022

          Just as Labour is losing traditionally loyal votes from outside London

  4. Bloke
    May 12, 2022

    The EU attempts to control nations outside its jurisdiction for its own purposes.
    We are a sovereign nation, free to do as we choose.

    1. Old Salt
      May 12, 2022

      Bloke
      Should not that read “We were…”

      1. Bloke
        May 13, 2022

        Everyone, even those in worst circumstances are free to choose their shortest path to better every day.
        I agree with you, that now, more of our choices have unpleasant consequences attached.

  5. Clough
    May 12, 2022

    All good questions, Sir John. João Vale de Almeida currently serves as the Ambassador of the European Union to the United Kingdom. Perhaps someone should put them to him.

  6. Everhopeful
    May 12, 2022

    Truthful answer…
    “Because we have always wanted to split up the U.K.
    Much easier to rule and suppress small units of humanity.”

  7. Peter VAN LEEUWEN
    May 12, 2022

    Why not wait for the US Envoy for Northern Ireland, which is in the making now. It was a US envoy which brokered the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Even though, at that time, it was against the wishes of the DUP.

    1. Sir Joe Soap
      May 12, 2022

      We don’t need another outside force to meddle in our country thanks One other is one too many.

      1. DavidJ
        May 12, 2022

        +1

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        May 12, 2022

        I’m sure that the Scots and Irish would agree fully.

        About England, that is.

        1. No Longer Anonymous
          May 12, 2022

          Yet being called a little Englander is in the pejorative.

          Either way, we can’t win.

          1. No Longer Anonymous
            May 12, 2022

            Yet 50 US states can hold together ruled from a capital thousands of miles away.

            Britain has to be broken up ???

          2. Nottingham Lad Himself
            May 13, 2022

            Do you understand what a “federation” and a “constitution” are?

    2. formula57
      May 12, 2022

      A reason why not is that failed president Biden has let the post remain unfilled for sixteen months, the last envoy having resigned on 7th., January 2021. Such negligence is surely a reflection of how important the U.S.A. regards the post of envoy.

    3. MFD
      May 12, 2022

      We need to keep the yanks out of our business as they are destroying all they touch these days

      1. Pauline Baxter
        May 12, 2022

        MFD. Hear Hear!

    4. Lindsay McDougall
      May 12, 2022

      Welcome back, Peter, if ever you have been away. You haven’t lost your ability to take the wrong side in every arguement. The Good Friday Agreement, with its idiotic incoherence over blood and belonging, was not really welcomed by Unionists. The referendum approving the Agreement had 96% Republican support and only 54% Unionist support. The Good Friday Agreement was brokered by ex Senator George Mitchell, an Irish American who could hardly be called neutral. The first draft of that Agreement that he produced gave Sinn Fein everything they had asked for; we should have declared him PNG and sent him packing. You will, I am sure, have noticed that the White House is occupied by another Irish American, every bit as hostile to the UK as George Mitchell. If he offers to “help” there is only one proper response: “Get your tanks off my lawn”.

      1. rose
        May 12, 2022

        The IRA had been comprehensively infiltrated and roundly beaten four years before the Belfast Agreement. Then Blair and Powell performed their abject capitulation, giving the IRA everything they asked for, including disbanding the RUC and bestowing “letters of comfort” on the terrorists, but not on British soldiers. After the Belfast Agreement had been ratified by a referendum in which the unionists who voted for it did not read it first, so the 54% figure is not enlightening, the worst atrocity of all was carried out – on the Feast of the Assumption, 1998. The bombing killed 29 people and injured about 220 others, making it the deadliest single incident of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. So much for the “Good Friday” agreement.

      2. Peter van LEEUWEN
        May 13, 2022

        The wrong side? There has been peace since 1998. Much more work between te communities are required though. In the land of WIlliam of Orange (i.e. the Netherlands) Catholics and Protestans are living happily together and have done so all my long life!

        1. rose
          May 13, 2022

          This was not a Roman Catholic versus Protestant campaign of terror, though many foreigners like yourself still seem to think it was. Many Roman Catholics were injured and killed by the IRA or had their lives wrecked. Many Roman Catholics – and agnostics – are Unionists. Many Roman Catholics vote for the DUP.

          1. rose
            May 13, 2022

            As for “peace since 1998”, dig a little deeper.

          2. rose
            May 13, 2022

            I should have made clear to you, Peter, in case you thought otherwise, that the bombing on the Feast of the Assumption, just months after the signing of the “Good Friday Agreement”, was carried out by a faction of the IRA, as have the atrocities against both Roman Catholics and Protestants – and agnostics – since.

    5. No Longer Anonymous
      May 12, 2022

      Everywhere the modern US interferes results in death, destruction and refugee crises.

    6. No Longer Anonymous
      May 12, 2022

      Modern America causes death, destruction and refugee crises wherever in interferes.

  8. Gary Megson
    May 12, 2022

    Yes, there is complete alienation of the Unionist community. This does not come from the EU, it comes from YOUR government which signed the Protocol even though Unionists in Northern Ireland protested that it would put trade barriers between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The Protocol is terrible but it is 100% Boris’s Protocol

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      May 12, 2022

      Maybe the DUP shouldn’t have funnelled all that money into the Leave campaigns eh?

      They don’t seem too please with their handiwork, do they?

  9. Len Peel
    May 12, 2022

    A Protocol soooo dreadful that every single Tory MP in the House of Commons voted for it in January 2020

    1. glen cullen
      May 12, 2022

      Remember the default position was WTO if the NIP/WA wasn’t achieved….and they wouldn’t implement something that the people voted for ! By hook or crook they had to get the NIP across the line….democracy be damned – brexit be damned

    2. formula57
      May 12, 2022

      @ Len Peel – or the protocol has such wide and effective escape clauses to be used in the face of (expected) Evil Empire mischief that voting for it was an easy expedience.

    3. Nottingham Lad Himself
      May 12, 2022

      The surest way to cause a toddler an even bigger tantrum is to give them exactly that for which they screamed in the first.

  10. Davir
    May 12, 2022

    So your point 5 says the UK can sign a treaty and then just change it later, as suits it without bothering to talk to the other party. So presumably the EU (and any other country the UK has an agreement with) can do the same? It can just change the terms of the agreement as suits it, and the UK has to accept that. You really think that?

    1. glen cullen
      May 12, 2022

      A country, company or person can’t be held to a treaty that they don’t wish to be part of. If a treaty fails to satisfy the mutual goals of each party or fails in its mutual benefits, that treaty becomes untenable and should be dissolved.

      1. Len Peel
        May 12, 2022

        Great, so I just tell my bank I’ve decided I’m not going to pay back my mortgage anymore?

        1. glen cullen
          May 12, 2022

          There’s a big difference between an international treaty and an individual financial contract….but if you don’t like your mortgage provider you can transfer it to another provider or pay it off

        2. Peter2
          May 12, 2022

          No Len that is a legal and enforceable commercial contract based in one country.
          You can tell your bank that if you wish and they will eventually take procession of you property.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            May 14, 2022

            No, they will take possession of their property.

          2. Peter2
            May 14, 2022

            Which is effectively what I said NHL
            You are either pedantic or ridiculous.
            Here you are both.

      2. Old Salt
        May 12, 2022

        Glen
        Any agreement is not worth the paper its written on if not agreed to on both sides. The NIP was agreed under duress presumably to keep us entrapped by which they have surely succeeded unless someone grows some and soon.
        Nigil on GB News at 21.50 last evening was happy for the NIP to go along with the ECHR and HRA so giving us back our fish and borders etc and at the same time save still paying billions. The Free Trade Deal is rubbish anyway with them selling more to us than we sell to them regarding us as their Treasure Island.

        1. glen cullen
          May 12, 2022

          Very True

        2. rose
          May 13, 2022

          It is worth remembering Mrs May said during the leadership campaign she “won” that she would rather be rid of the ECHR than the EU – presumably speaking as a Home Secretary. Once in a position to do that, we heard no more about the ECHR- and we still hear no more about it from her, despite her bitter pronouncements against the Government.

        3. rose
          May 13, 2022

          Of course we would be better off without the FTA, which is nothing of the kind. But Mr Farage is very, very economical with the truth when it comes to summarising where we are now.

      3. Nottingham Lad Himself
        May 12, 2022

        You really don’t get this honour between nations thing at all, do you Glen?

        1. glen cullen
          May 12, 2022

          If we’re being screwed in a deal we get out, if we’re screwing somebody else I’d expect them to get out….don’t know what honour has to do with it; its just a business deal between two parties – a deal/treaty only works if both parties are happy with it

    2. Ian Wragg
      May 12, 2022

      It is perfectly normal to abrogate treaties which are not functioning. Countries do it all the time.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        May 12, 2022

        Yes, and the whole deal collapses.

        So how would the UK manage with no access to European Union ports, airspace, infrastructure and all the rest?

        1. Peter2
          May 12, 2022

          Our partners in the EU NHL, you reckon will go extreme and blockade our free access and behave illegally to refuse our WTO guaranteed trade routes .
          PS
          Acess to airspace is not an EU power.

          1. glen cullen
            May 12, 2022

            +1

      2. Liam
        May 12, 2022

        This can only be done if both sides agree. What the Uk is planning to do is illegal. No country can simply refuse to comply with an agreement it made. Otherwise, why would any country ever bother to enter into a treaty? This is very dangerous: Mrs Thatcher said the Uk would never break its promises, yet this is exactly what is now being considered

        1. rose
          May 13, 2022

          It is the EU, Liam, which is breaking the agreement, and the Belfast Agreement too, hence the need to very belatedly do something unilaterally, legally using the clauses within the agreement. There is no question of the UK “tearing it up” or breaking it, or breaking its promises. The EU, on the other hand, frequently breaks its laws and treaties, and frequently dishonours undertakings it has given. Its dishonouring of the WA/NIP is no exception. The EU is a protection racket which has grown into an aggressively expanding empire. It is not a moral entity.

    3. Denis Cooper
      May 12, 2022

      If it happened then technically it would not be a change to the treaty itself but a change to the UK’s domestic implementation of the treaty. Our sovereign UK Parliament, the supreme legal authority for the UK, passed an Act to implement the protocol within the UK but Parliament still has the power to amend that and indeed any other of its own Acts, and so disapply parts of the protocol. And that legal position, a consequence of the UK being a “dualist” state, was recognised by all the other parties:

      https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2018/596831/IPOL_BRI(2018)596831_EN.pdf

      “The UK is a dualist state, which gives domestic legal effect to international treaties only to the extent provided for in Acts of Parliament or other secondary legislation.”

      And expressly acknowledged by the other parties when they agreed to Article 38, as in the piece above:

      “5. Clause 38 of the Withdrawal Act which gives legal force to the Agreement in the U.K. expressly allows the U.K. Parliament to override the Agreement where necessary. If it had not quite a few Conservative MPs who want a sovereign U.K. would not have voted for it.”

      I presume that in the unlikely event of it happening the UK government would send a formal letter to the EU referring to its previous instrument of ratification and saying that the UK was now withdrawing its previous consent to be bound by the relevant parts of the protocol.

      This would not be the first time for a country to repudiate all or part of a treaty to which it had agreed:

      https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2022/04/daniel-hannan-no-the-government-has-not-abandoned-the-rule-of-law.html

      “Ireland, for example, abandoned the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty in stages, cutting its residual constitutional links to the UK, declaring itself a republic and leaving the Commonwealth. Did that mean the end of the rule of law in Ireland? No. It was accepted that a treaty signed under duress had ceased to be valid.”

      1. Wokingham Jim
        May 12, 2022

        No one agreed to Article 38 except the UK. It is completely irrelevant. It has no affect on the EU because it is not in the Withdrawal Agreemnent. If the UK breaks the Protocol, it breaks an internatiobal Treaty.

        reply Not true. The Withdrawal Agreement only has force of law in the U.K. in its Act Of P form

        1. Gary Megson
          May 13, 2022

          Untrue, Mr Redwood. The Withdrawal Agreement is binding international law, whatever the UK parliamnet does

          1. Peter2
            May 13, 2022

            You still haven’t bothered to read the Withdrawal Agreement then Gary.

          2. Denis Cooper
            May 13, 2022

            It’s only binding in the UK for as long as the UK Parliament allows it be binding.

            You really must try to get to grips with the concept of parliamentary sovereignty:

            https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role/sovereignty/

            “Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution. It makes Parliament the supreme legal authority in the UK, which can create or end any law.”

        2. Denis Cooper
          May 13, 2022

          Wokinhgham Jim, it is inconceivable that the EU was unaware that the UK Parliament had expressly made that reservation in its implementing legislation, but notwithstanding the EU was prepared to go ahead with it and allow the treaty to come into force.

    4. graham1946
      May 12, 2022

      If what you say was true you would have a point, but there have been endless discussions about it and the EU does what it always has where the UK is concerned and says ‘No’. Time now for action. EU stonewalling must be ended and our market reinstated. They have been warned, even if they are intentionally deaf to it and just read the newspapers. We will see whether Bodger Johnson actually has the cojones or will settle for another fudge.

    5. X-Tory
      May 12, 2022

      @ Davir: A Treaty is just an agreement between two governments. It is not handed down by God on a tablet of stone. Of course a sovereign government can change its policy and revoke a previous agreement, either in whole or in part. If it couldn’t it would not be sovereign!

    6. Mike Wilson
      May 12, 2022

      @Davir

      If the other side breaks a treaty, you have every right to do the same. The EU has broken the treaty by interfering in trade within the UK.

      1. Gary Megson
        May 12, 2022

        Mike, the exact point of the protocol – which is part of Boris’s oven ready deal – is that trade within the UK is blocked. That is exactly what the Conservative Party won the last election to achieve – NI subject to EU rules, GB not, so checks on goods needed between GB and NI. The EU is not “interfering”, it is simply expecting the Uk to live up to what it agreed in the Withdrawal Agreement

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          May 12, 2022

          To which the Leaver’s answer is “Why do you hate your country?” or other irrelevant, inane cobblers.

          1. Peter2
            May 12, 2022

            Well you prefer the EU as you have told us many times with your endless anti UK posts NHL
            So the question above is well posed.

    7. agricola
      May 12, 2022

      If it is so toxic as to achieve the very situation it was supposedly designed to avoid, thes yes Davir.
      There has been an excess of talk, all without result. The NIP contains legal levers to cancel its toxic elements without going outside the legal obligations within it. It is not set in stone.

  11. Donna
    May 12, 2022

    The BBC and other pro-EU mainstream media are not asking these questions because they are using the Protocol – which Johnson should NEVER have signed – as a stick to beat him with.

    But Sir John knows that because he refused to support the cowardly deal with the EU because of it.

    The only question now is “does Johnson have the guts to scrap it.” And I very much doubt he has. It is so much easier and more satisfying to posture about protecting Ukraine’s Sovereignty and borders than the Sovereignty and borders of the UK.

  12. Stephen Reay
    May 12, 2022

    Then why did Boris sign it off?

    1. graham1946
      May 12, 2022

      According to Lord Frost on Monday, they knew what they were doing but needed to get the bigger part, the actual leaving of the EU done. Refusing would have collapsed the whole thing and we would still be in the EU. They have ample grounds for withdrawing, due to the unreasonable behaviour of the EU. They could have made it work, but were more intent on punishing the UK for having the temerity to leave their paradise.

      1. John Hatfield
        May 12, 2022

        Leaving the EU was not dependent on the Withdrawal Agreement. We could have left the EU without it.

        1. graham1946
          May 12, 2022

          We could theoretically, but there would have been no free trade agreement and would have gone to WTO which our Parliament would not have accepted, therefore we could not leave as you suggest. As it happens it seems this ‘free trade agreement’ is not worth much, certainly not the aggravation we get from the EU as they are quite incapable of acting rationally or honorably in their desire to see the UK fail, supported by many in this country.

        2. glen cullen
          May 12, 2022

          +1 Agree

      2. Bill brown
        May 12, 2022

        Graham 1946

        No we stick to our own nightmare with Bozo

        1. Peter2
          May 12, 2022

          Seemed very popular at the last election Billy
          80 seat majority with Labour getting their worst result since 1935
          The Lib Dems, our real pro EU party had a dismal election result.

          1. Bill brown
            May 12, 2022

            Peter 2
            I assume you have observed the change in the population like the local elections

          2. Peter2
            May 13, 2022

            Mid term local election results are sometimes negatives for the government.
            It happened under Blair’s Labour, for example, but he still got re elected at the next general election.

          3. rose
            May 13, 2022

            Only after 6 years of a long and continuous campaign of character assassination, latterly to the exclusion of all else.

      3. Pauline Baxter
        May 12, 2022

        graham1946. Lord Frost also explained why the NI protocol is different from Treaties governed by International Law. My understanding is that we are more than justified in invoking article 16.

        1. graham1946
          May 12, 2022

          Agreed. Apparently UK lawyers have already opined as much.

      4. Bloke
        May 12, 2022

        Agreed. Exiting the EU was the most important.
        It is better to have a loose agreement with a bad operator than being governed by their worse intent.
        Freedom enables opportunities for improvement.

  13. Jason
    May 12, 2022

    Trade war is staring us – I fear thr EU will close the Channel ports- everything for import export will have to go through Felixstowe in containers – we will finally have taken back control

    1. Ian Wragg
      May 12, 2022

      If they do that then they will be the net lovers. Ireland will lose it’s land bridge and the EU will find itself awash with perishable goods. I’m sure Ostend and other ports would be happy to oblige.

      1. Jack
        May 12, 2022

        Ireland has already doubled it’s trade directly by sea to continental ports from Dublin and Rosslare, hauliers no longer use Britain as a land bridge so much – they say its too much trouble and then of course there’s the long delays on the aporoaches to the ports. But the business that’s probably going to suffer most from a trade war is NI business which will find itself importing and exporting through British ports only, then probably to the continent through Felixstowe on to Rotterdam in containers, with southern Irish ports denied – I don’t think anyone knows how this is going to play out

    2. Donna
      May 12, 2022

      Never played poker?
      The EU economy is tanking even faster than ours, particularly in Germany which is dependent on Russian gas and oil.
      A trade war damages both sides; but one side may well be damaged more than the other.

      1. Mike Wilson
        May 12, 2022

        Indeed. A trade war with the EU is exactly what this country needs. Our government would finally wake from its trance of EU dependency and would have to get this country growing food, producing its own energy and making its own goods. I am praying for a trade war. We won’t get one, though. EU leaders might try it fit economic reality will slap them down hard.

        1. glen cullen
          May 12, 2022

          Agree

      2. Len Peel
        May 12, 2022

        Lovely to see the “we hold all the cards” argument once again. Tell me, how well has that worked since 2016?

        1. graham1946
          May 12, 2022

          We never tried to use any cards, that’s the problem because we are governed by people who don’t believe in Brexit and want to get us back in.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            May 13, 2022

            Most of that “we” also resent being dragged out in the first place.

        2. graham1946
          May 13, 2022

          Never mind NLH. Democracy – it’s a bugger isn’t it when you don’t agree.

      3. Nottingham Lad Himself
        May 12, 2022

        Around 60% of the UK’s diesel comes directly or indirectly from Russia.

    3. Bill brown
      May 12, 2022

      Jason

      Stop thinking about unrealistic scenarios

      1. Peter2
        May 12, 2022

        Yes Jason just do what Billy tells you to do.
        Because Billy is right
        Always.
        Know your place.

        1. Bill brown
          May 12, 2022

          Peter 2

          Thank you very much for a valuable contribution

          1. Peter2
            May 13, 2022

            You are welcome bill.
            Do keep telling us what to say and think.

  14. Chris S
    May 12, 2022

    As far as I can see, the protocol probably had enough safeguards built into it as long as both parties entered into it in good faith. Unfortunately the EU is totally lacking in good faith and has deliberately exploited the agreement to make life as difficult as possible for the UK, aided by their Remainder friends in the UK and the idiot occupying the White House.

    1. Shirley M
      May 12, 2022

      +1 Chris, the EU have no intentions of acting in good faith, but Boris is an EU appeaser so I doubt he’ll manage anything worthwhile. He’ll probably get some change and we’ll end up worse off because he has given the EU some other power over us, but he’ll claim it as a victory.

    2. Bill brown
      May 12, 2022

      Chris S

      What about our idiot in Downing street

      1. Peter2
        May 12, 2022

        You are getting really worked up Billy.
        Calm down and try to make proper comments.

    3. Nottingham Lad Himself
      May 12, 2022

      Ah, the “idiot” who lifted Trump’s thumping tariffs on UK steel, you mean?

  15. The Prangwizard
    May 12, 2022

    Boris is a betrayer. He has had plenty of time to protect NI and the rest of the UK but he has backed down many many times and failed the promises he has made in the HoC to act to restore sovereignty.

    He will fail again in the need for courageous decisions and think his fancy debating society words are enough.

    1. Shirley M
      May 12, 2022

      Exactly. The EU need do nothing as they know full well Boris is not batting for the UK, like so many of our politicians.

    2. DavidJ
      May 12, 2022

      +1

    3. glen cullen
      May 12, 2022

      The first thing May did as PM was to sign the UN immigration pact, the first thing Boris did as PM was to sign the EU Trade Cooperation Agreement & NI protocol knowing they were unsatisfactory and inappropriate – ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’……they all knew it was a bad deal

      1. rose
        May 12, 2022

        The Traitors’ Parliament rammed the Benn Burt surrender Act through Parliament to prevent the PM from leaving the negotiations without a deal. As he said, they had chopped his legs off.

        1. glen cullen
          May 12, 2022

          They had a greater mandate – the people referendum

          1. rose
            May 13, 2022

            They still have that greater mandate, Glen, and still the sabotage continues – in the Lords, overwhelmingly, in the Civil Service, on the Bench, in the Church, and in the Commons. And never more so than in the media. Did you hear Mishal Husain this morning, interviewing Coveney? She gave him free rein for a very long rant of lies and black propaganda against this country which she did not once contradict. It would have sounded convincing too, to the uninformed.

        2. anon
          May 12, 2022

          If the will was there from a determined PM, then a way could have been found.
          The next contact with the electorate would have been and soon will be interesting. Maybe they would/will poll 81 million votes but i suspect not.

  16. Sir Joe Soap
    May 12, 2022

    I suspect most commentators on here are puzzled as to why most members of your party (realising you didn’t) voted this through in the first place. Now we’re wondering why the government don’t just ignore the thing – we’re being too kind to the other side to even announce that we’re discounting this daft idea that we can’t move goods freely within the country if we want to. We clearly can and should do.

  17. wanderer
    May 12, 2022

    It’s a test of this government’s resolve to protect the interests of its citizens and the sovereignty of our state. Why is there no apetite to exercise its powers? I know things don’t work this way, but wouldn’t it be nice if we at least got some explanation for their inaction?

    1. Atlas
      May 12, 2022

      Agreed. If you listen to Irish State Radio news they are all excited at the prospect of a United Ireland.

      1. Mike Wilson
        May 12, 2022

        they are all excited at the prospect of a United Ireland.

        Sure, and why shouldn’t they be? It would be nice for Ireland to get back to how it was before the bloody English invaded it.

        1. mancunius
          May 12, 2022

          “to get back to how it was before the bloody English invaded it.”
          That means – without any exaggeration – getting back to how Ireland was before the year 1169, Mike. Personally, I’d to get back to how England was before the Norman-French invaded it, but one has to live in and accept the present.

        2. rose
          May 12, 2022

          Ireland was only ever “united” as part of the British Isles, as part of the United Kingdom. Then Southern Ireland broke away.

        3. No Longer Anonymous
          May 12, 2022

          Mike

          England was being attacked by Catholics from above, bottom and both sides. Northern Ireland was our buffer to the West.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            May 13, 2022

            So what religion was England for centuries before protestantism was invented then?

      2. graham1946
        May 12, 2022

        First, just the slight problem that the NI people won’t vote for it. Sinn Fein have not significantly increased their vote, the nationalists have split theirs.

        1. graham1946
          May 12, 2022

          Sorry, meant Unionists, not nationalists.

        2. rose
          May 13, 2022

          Yes, the Sinners have exactly the same number of seats they had before, yet it is being treated by the world as a landslide.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            May 13, 2022

            I think that 53:37 is a bit better than 52:48, Rose.

            Don’t you?

          2. rose
            May 13, 2022

            27 seats last time; 27 seats this time. That is what counts.

          3. Nottingham Lad Himself
            May 13, 2022

            There are 53 pro-NIP members as opposed to 37 against.

            You don’t seem to care much about “the will of the people” if they happen to be Northern Irish, do you?

            Nah, the brexit fanatics need to wreck the prosperity which NI enjoys thanks to being in the SM and CU. It shows clearly the whole sorry brexit grind for what it truly is, doesn’t it?

          4. rose
            May 14, 2022

            The Northern Irish government works differently from others: it is based on the Belfast and St Andrews Agreements – which means there has to be double consent. That means consent from both communities, and it is that founding principle which the NIP, with its vindictive application by the EU, is flouting.

            The majority of Unionists voted to leave the EU and the majority of republicans and nationalists voted to remain. The Unionists do not want to be annexed by the EU as has happened in effect; the republicans apparently don’t mind, because they think it makes absorption by the South more likely. But overall, the UK voted to leave the EU, and Northern Ireland is part of the UK as Scotland and Wales are. Constitutionally and democratically, the Province must leave the EU along with the Mainland.

            Now we have three blocs in the Assembly: one, whose loyalty is to the UK; one whose loyalty is to the EU despite the referendum; and one whose loyalty is to the South and which has traditionally been very anti EU. The middle one is not catered for in the Belfast and St Andrews Agreement, but it does assert it does not want the destruction of Northern Ireland as the third one does. Its pro EU position is undemocratic and somewhat woolly, to say the least.

  18. Original Richard
    May 12, 2022

    The EU’s intransigence is because they are backed by Biden. Had Trump won again it would all have been sorted by now.

    Our PM needs to spend a week or more in the US to meet with Biden, meet with as many politicians and make as many TV appearances as is possible. All over the USA.

    He needs to explain to the American people the story of how we held a referendum to regain our sovereignty and thus be able to make our own laws and policies and how the N.I. protocol came about because a PM, Parliament (including the Speaker) and judiciary tried undemocratically to reverse the result.

    The American people should understand the desire for independence and our PM would be very good at this task.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      May 12, 2022

      Don’t you think that this country is in a big enough mess as it is?

  19. Denis Cooper
    May 12, 2022

    A letter sent to the Belfast News Letter:

    “It will no doubt seem paradoxical, and possibly even perverse, to suggest that the route to restoring the integrity of the UK internal market starts with UK legislation to protect the integrity of the EU Single Market.

    But it should be recalled that this nonsense started with the claim that there was no way to prevent goods that the EU found unacceptable crossing an open land border from Northern Ireland into the Irish Republic.

    So, the Brussels and Dublin line runs, there is no alternative to the protocol, with not only all goods entering Northern Ireland subject to EU checks and controls but also all goods produced within the province.

    Show there is a workable alternative and the case for the protocol collapses; and that demonstration must start with passage of the UK laws to protect the EU Single Market envisaged in the Command Paper.”

  20. Christine
    May 12, 2022

    You ask why the EU behaves in this way. It’s because they are bullies and have to ensure that Brexit is a failure so that no other member state leaves. This government is weak and always backs down, so of course the EU pushes their advantage. We also have a judiciary and media that constantly side with the EU. The Withdrawal Agreement only seems to benefit EU countries, like yourself I would never have signed such a one-sided expensive agreement. Boris should have torn it up but he just wanted to get Brexit done at any cost. JRM keeps talking about good faith. When will our politicians learn that the EU doesn’t do good faith? The only way to treat a bully is fight back and fight back hard. The EU is weak at the moment. Take advantage of this and stop pouring our money into defending the likes of Sweden and Finland who aren’t even NATO members. Start looking after the British people for once instead of pretending to be a global superpower. Have the local election results taught you nothing?

    1. Shirley M
      May 12, 2022

      + many. Far too sensible and too helpful for the UK to be considered. Appeasement always leads to more demands, especially when applied to the EU.

    2. DavidJ
      May 12, 2022

      Excellent comment.

    3. glen cullen
      May 12, 2022

      +1

  21. X-Tory
    May 12, 2022

    Quite right Sir John, but you have been saying “The government must act” for the last two years and nothing has happened. Can’t you see that Boris doesn’t give a damn what you, or the rest of the ERG, think. If you want *him* to act then YOU must act. As I have said many times, the ERG must tell him that they are sending in a letter a day until the Protocol is revoked. Boris Johnson only understands THREATS.

    1. DavidJ
      May 12, 2022

      +1

  22. Bill brown
    May 12, 2022

    Sir J.R

    Interesting perspective and some valid and less valid points
    But to blame the EU for the break down in the NI executive is s bit steep
    The DUP is using as s cover for their own political agenda and for making the mistake of believing Boris and his Irish sea solution

    1. mancunius
      May 12, 2022

      Quite, as you say, the Irish Sea border is and was no solution.
      Max fac is the solution.
      It was so unfortunate for the EU that technology had overtaken their disruptive objections, but they were lucky that May and Robbins played compliantly along with Barnier and Varadkar, and pretended to be unaware of the tech border solutions available worldwide.

  23. Freeborn John
    May 12, 2022

    If the British government don’t take action to repeal the NIP this week then they will never take it. There can be no more “72-hours extra” or other foot dragging now. Even if the EU agrees a new serious negotiating mandate the DUP should not form an executive or Stormont legislature until those negotiations reach a solution acceptable to them. Otherwise it will be like Tony Blair’s agreement for the EU to discuss CAP reform which never resulted in any actual change.

    Only if the U.K. unilaterally repeals the NIP and introduces a “red lane” in Belfast port where vehicles must drive direct to the Dublin motorway then Stormont can reconvene until such time (likely never) when Ireland and Brussels decide themselves if checks are really needed when those vehicles get into the Republic. Only when they have to perform the checks themselves will they ever decide they are not needed.

    1. Mike Wilson
      May 12, 2022

      I wonder how you’d feel if Ireland had invaded England in the past, but Cornwall, being full of Celts, stayed as part of The United Ireland and there was a hard border between Devon and Cornwall.

      1. acorn
        May 12, 2022

        Do you remember the days when JR’s diary used to be “Speaking for England”, alas now it appears to be “Speaking for the Union”; but, he hasn’t explained the reason for the change; I suspect a pro-union vote rise in Wokingham. Now his diary is for the rather more nebulous “Freedom and Prosperity”. I will bet large you won’t ever see a “Speaking for Brexit” banner at the top of the page. That big red ERG bus is doing a Thelma & Louise.

        1. Peter2
          May 12, 2022

          acorn
          There are a variety of posts from Sir John on numerous topics.
          Speaking for England develops correctly into supporting the Union.
          And supporting Brexit is an obvious benefit to England and thus the Union.
          Do you not realise what the full name of the Conservative Party is?

          1. Bill brown
            May 12, 2022

            Peter 2
            Can we please have proof of the so-called benefits please

          2. Peter2
            May 13, 2022

            The benefit of speaking for Brexit was that we became an independent country.

            The EU seems happier too.

  24. Javelin
    May 12, 2022

    This really is all superficial fluff and is caused by the economy tanking which in turn is caused by the cost of lock down which we found out yesterday in the US is caused by corruption.

    For those that don’t know the acting director of the National Institute of Health admitted that (1) Covid DNA sequences were removed from the database at the behest of the Chinese (don’t worry they have them on a hard to access tape drive) and (2) $350,000,000 was paid in Undisclosed dividends to NIH scientists profiting from the vaccine.

    If we add the court ordered Pfizer data release, that they did not disclose and tried to keep private for 70 years, that thousands of people died from the vaccine trials then you have the mother of all political storms converging on politicians from the courts.

  25. Mike Wilson
    May 12, 2022

    In 2024 most of you will vote for nurse for fear of something worse. And if you got the chance to change the voting system, you’ll vote to keep it the same. You get what you deserve.

    1. agricola
      May 12, 2022

      Mike, while I can understand your cynicism I do not share it. The present situation opens the door to a party that understand and can respond to the wishes of the electorate. Much like the Brexit party rose from nowhere to tell the established metropolitan bubble that their time was up. Said bubble needs another reminder of its inadequacies at domestic political level. I hope they do not leave it too long.

      1. Mike Wilson
        May 12, 2022

        It can open the door to a party, it can even gain some influence, but if the Brexit Party had fielded candidates in every seat in 2019 you’d probably have a Lib Lab coalition now. If Nigel resurfaces, he needs to do it now so he can influence events before the election. He’s had a good rest. Nigel, your country needs you.

  26. agricola
    May 12, 2022

    The EU agenda is not the preservation of the GFA, it is to cause maximum friction within the UK Union as a vindIctive punishment for the UK having the temerity to leave the EU.
    No amount of talking will change their position, we must cancel the NIP using all the legal means provided and leave the EU to take whatever further vindictive steps they have in mind. Remember they still expect to sell us Mercedes and Renault cars and much else besides. Time to show some bottle.

    1. DavidJ
      May 12, 2022

      +1

  27. majorfrustration
    May 12, 2022

    Perhaps its time that Nigel returned – might make Boris realise that he has to act rather than talk.

  28. Diane
    May 12, 2022

    The Facts4eu website reminds us and illustrates yet another absurdity in its piece of 11th May regarding N I fishing boats and the landing of their catches etc., Just something else festering & needing to be sorted out, only presently being alleviated by the government’s, opposed by EU, grace period. ( ” N I Fishing boats would be foreigners in their own ports were it not for the UK’s action” )

  29. John McDonald
    May 12, 2022

    Boris can start World War III with Russia and spend £billions on it, but can’t stand up to the EU nor stop the invasion from France by people with nothing more than a rubber boat. What a joke if it was not so deadly serious.

    1. glen cullen
      May 12, 2022

      I wonder how many rubber boats arrived today – It’s a shame that our transparent government has to hide the daily figures from us and I’d suggest massage those figures only accounting for illegals that present themselves

      1. Diane
        May 13, 2022

        Glen C-Government’s website shows zero arrivals for 12 May. In fact since Mon 09 May to Yesterday 12 May, the site records only 51 arrivals (Monday) Zero on 10,11,12 May.( Stiff breezes this week ) To be fair the figures are being issued daily on that site with all sorts of data definitions with the promise of quarterly reporting.
        e.g. it states data do not incl arrivals in UK on larger vessels etc., nor arrivals in the UK clandestinely on larger vessels etc., where hidden on a vehicle or ferry, undetected. Also daily shows if “The MoD (does) / does not believe that any migrants arrived on their own terms in a small boat from the English Channel” More on the government’s site on link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats

  30. Malcolm White
    May 12, 2022

    So why on earth does the RT Hon Liz Truss leave the recent UK-EU meeting on this issue saying that talks will continue?

    It’s about time this Government simply says “Enough is enough” – as it’s for certain that the EU isn’t going to budge on any of the points made in your blog – and pull the plug on this sorry mess.

    1. glen cullen
      May 12, 2022

      The EU said there’s nothing to negotiate

  31. DavidJ
    May 12, 2022

    Just another mess from Boris who was too anxious to claim the completion of Brexit without upsetting the EU.
    He shouted “Brexit is done” when clearly that which we voted for was not. Now he has a chance to make amends and withdraw from his agreement.

    1. glen cullen
      May 12, 2022

      +1

  32. Dave Andrews
    May 12, 2022

    Can anyone tell me how the NI ports work? Are they operated by EU officials, directing traffic on and off the ferries, or are they operated by UK personnel according to EU instructions?
    Can trusted traffic just be directed to by-pass border controls?

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      May 12, 2022

      Do your own searching and reading.

  33. Denis Cooper
    May 12, 2022

    Same old nonsense from EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, here:

    https://www.rte.ie/news/brexit/2022/0512/1297529-brexit-protocol/

    “A border on the island of Ireland “cannot happen and will not happen”

    Back to November 2017:

    https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/01/28/smoothing-trade/#comment-1295575

    “Ireland only became a massive problem because the Irish government decided to make it a massive problem and Theresa May found it convenient to go along with their nonsense.

    Once again I bring up this Sky News report of November 24 2017 … “

  34. Pauline Baxter
    May 12, 2022

    Sir John.
    Why have you not demanded the triggering of article 16 in your diary today?

    Reply I have urged them to legislate and read they are going to.

    1. glen cullen
      May 12, 2022

      Right to Reply
      I believe that we’re a million miles away from triggering Art16

      1. rose
        May 13, 2022

        We don’t actually need to “trigger article 16” – any more than we needed to “trigger article 50” (of the Lisbon Treaty). This is language to pretend we don’t have a Parliament and government of our own. Nothing needs to be “torn up” either. It is there in the NIP, as it was in the Lisbon Treaty, that we can make our own arrangements.

  35. mancunius
    May 12, 2022

    Any treaty can be renegotiated, and if one party unreasonably refuses to do so, it is just cause in international law for the other party to suspend the treaty.
    In the case of the NIP, its capacity for ‘alteration’ is literally included as an article of the Treaty. By refusing to even discuss such alteration, the EU is already in breach of the NIP.
    If they try to suspend the TCA as a revenge, the EU will also be in breach of the notice agreement enshrined in the TCA.
    If Johnson doesn’t act now decisively to defend the Union, the Tories are electoral toast.

    1. Gary Megson
      May 12, 2022

      “Any treaty can be renegotiated, and if one party unreasonably refuses to do so, it is just cause in international law for the other party to suspend the treaty” is utter and complete rubbish.

      1. mancunius
        May 12, 2022

        See Vienna Convention 1969 Chap. V (60,61,62).
        Negotiation and alteration of any clauses and particulars of the NIP, even to matters of substance, are expressly included in the Protocol. The mechanism is specified.
        Yet the EU party of the Joint Committee (led by Sevcovic) has steadfastly refused to discuss or alter anything. It has used all the sessions intended for discussion to stonewall and insist that the agreement *must remain unvaried* despite the UK’s attempt to point out clear abuses of the Belfast Agreement by the EU.
        This in itself is a breach of the treaty under 60-61 of the Vienna Convention.
        The EU has also quite deliberately connived with the RoI to attempt to disrupt, divert and weaken intra-UK trade, and (together with representatives of the Dublin RoI government) has even boasted of having done so even though the diversion of UK trade is an explicitly specified reason for unilaterally remedying these abuses under Art. 16.
        That is also a breach of the treaty clearly intended to harm the contracting party (the UK).
        It has also (incorrectly) several times argued that the ‘uinlateral’ use of Art. 16 is a breach. This EU claim alone would be a breach of the treaty, as Art. 16 clearly states that either party may unilaterally make use of Art. 16.
        By refusing to recognize these negotiating and remedying clauses of the NIP, and by deliberately manipulating trade disruption within NI, and attempting to divert UK trade to its member states, the EU is guilty of bad faith, and has breached the treaty.

        1. a-tracy
          May 13, 2022

          mancunius, well said, a very informative and useful post thank you.

        2. Len Peel
          May 13, 2022

          The EU has done none of this. To the contrary it has agreed generous concessions, eg on medicines and pets. While the UK just throws tantrums

          1. Peter2
            May 13, 2022

            Len
            Have you got examples of goods from Britain being imported into Northern Ireland and then smuggled over the border into the Republic of Ireland?

      2. Peter2
        May 12, 2022

        Ridiculous post again from you GM
        So how did any treaty in history ever alter?

        1. Len Peel
          May 13, 2022

          By agreement

          1. Peter2
            May 13, 2022

            Not always.

      3. rose
        May 13, 2022

        The Vienna Convention says a treaty negotiated under duress – which is the word the diplomatist Lord Frost has used – is not valid. The Benn Burt Surrender Act prevented the PM from negotiating properly, put him under duress, because it compelled him to make a deal – any deal the EU dictated in practice. Others here have said there would have been a way round that. The only way round it was to sign it and then procure a working majority to alter it.

        1. Len Peel
          May 13, 2022

          So the UK government was subject to rules set by the UK Parluament. That is how our constitution works. It is not duress

          1. rose
            May 13, 2022

            The intention of the rogue legislation, which would not have been passed under a properly behaved Speaker, was to override the democratic result of the referendum, the biggest democratic exercise in our history. That is not how our constitution works.

          2. rose
            May 13, 2022

            The PM had been charged by the people with taking us out of the EU, and a rogue parliament was preventing him from doing that, aided and abetted by a rogue court.

  36. Benn
    May 12, 2022

    That’s what some Spanish lawyers are saying about Gibraltar and Chapter X of the Treaty of Utrecht – they say the treaty can be renegotiated to exclude Chapter X

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      May 13, 2022

      Good, point, Benn.

  37. DOM
    May 12, 2022

    Sinn Fein and Irish unification has the backing of the Brit hating detritus that is the US Democrat Party. That’s all you need to know. The views of halfwitted Tory leaders isn’t worth a carrot

  38. R.Grange
    May 12, 2022

    O/T but surely of importance to anyone who believes in taking back control and not losing national sovereignty. A document currently before the WHO’s World Health Assembly proposes to give the WHO the right to declare a public health emergency of international concern in a particular country, even without the consent of that country. The declaration will then be followed by teams sent into the country to deal with the outbreak as the WHO decides: https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA75/A75_18-en.pdf
    If adopted, these arrangements would give the WHO a foot in the door to every country’s public health policy, undermining the ability of a national Parliament to deal with a public health situation as it judges fit. It is very worrying that this proposal, to remove from this country the right to decide for itself when we have a public health emergency, has received almost no media attention.

    1. Pauline Baxter
      May 13, 2022

      R. Grange.
      Thank you for raising that matter.
      Sir John. I would like you to look deeply into it and make sure YOUR LEADER does NOT sign up to this WHO POWER GRAB.

  39. a-tracy
    May 13, 2022

    Are there only a few (limited) pro-British barristers and sovereign legal people that advise the government?

    There seems to be queues of lawyers wanting to come out against our Country and look to ways to thwart the UK such as those in the Guardian today. I’m curious who pays these lawyers that speak out so vehemently shouldn’t we be told if they have a pecuniary interest in thwarting a more pro-UK deal over Northern Ireland’s UK integrity and trade?

  40. Ed M
    May 13, 2022

    Boris is the best chance Tories have of implementing Breixt properly because he’s easily a lot more popular than 99% of the other Tory MPs.
    Also, he wraps Brexit up in a more appetising way. That Brexit isn’t about some kind of negative obsession with Europe / EU. But rather a more positive sense of patriotism for one’s country. That’s isn’t just about borders and sovereignty. But economy too. And interesting CULTURE. And so on.
    But he’s probably pretty jaded after years of Brexit thus far. Covid. And now having to deal with a very dangerous Pootin.
    So I think Boris needs a lot more encouragement and support than people attacking him (So easy to attack! Much harder to constructively support and encourage).

  41. a-tracy
    May 19, 2022

    ‘Restore Trade’

    Good morning John, this may be a bit simplistic but why doesn’t the Government invest the money in creating the documents our businesses need when sending goods to Northern Ireland.

    I thought the only problem with goods made in the UK was if parts used were from a third country outside of the EU and as long as they are declared and any duties paid they could be exported? Not only would our businesses be then able to trade with their products to N Ireland it would open up the EU markets and a government trade department could help to facilitate that.

    We seem to be very good at spending other people’s money (taxes) but not very good at helping people to make money and expanding markets. I understand there were lots of extra staff employed at Ferry ports etc to check goods coming in that Rees Mogg has decided doesn’t need to happen, one more giving us a sloping playing field, why not just even it up.

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