Brian Walker – Page 48 – Slugger O'Toole

The drip feed over Brexit strategy is hardly encouraging and requires wholesale review in Northern Ireland

Brian Walker on October 19, 2016, 10:06 am

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We inch forward in a long struggle for clarity.. The legal challenge in the English High Court to triggering Article 50 without parliamentary approval drew this insouciant admission from a barrister in reply to a sharp question from the Lord Chief Justice. But how meaningful would a take –it-or-leave-it vote be? James Eadie QC, defending the Government over claims Mrs May should seek Parliamentary approval before triggering Article 50, told the high court: “The Government view at the moment it …

So the DUP are leaving it all up to Theresa May to sort out our Brexit deal are they?

Brian Walker on October 18, 2016, 1:58 pm

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At last! Only two months later, a reply from Theresa May to the joint concerns of FM and DFM on the impact of Brexit. Searching for detail in the Nolan “scoop” I can only find this on the BBC website. In her letter, Mrs May says the future of the border is “an important priority for the UK as a whole.” She also says she recognises the “unique issues” raised by the Single Electricity Market and that resolving these will …

The Irish Times and the Guardian combine to ramp up pressure on May and in support of the “all-island Civic Dialogue”

Brian Walker on October 16, 2016, 11:21 pm

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“At this delicate moment, the Guardian and the Irish Times are collaborating on a week-long series exploring the predicament facing Ireland and the UK. Kenny told the Irish Times that he would summon all political players to an unprecedented All Island Civic Dialogue on 2 November. “ In support of the Guardian’s announcement the Irish Times has published a gloomy analysis of the effects of Brexit on both countries. The rough guide is that every 1 per cut in UK growth …

Wake up Stormont! The Peace Walls programme needs the back up of a major programme of borrow- to-invest in housing

Brian Walker on October 13, 2016, 11:18 am

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Turning away from Brexit to the home front, congrats to the Guardian for promoting a theme developed there by Professor Paddy Gray, an academic on the Built Environment, an austere title for a school of research which hosts a great deal of imaginative and practical work on developing society. Gray argues that the slow and careful task of bring down peace walls requires a change in favour of greater incentives for voluntary mixed development. In some places, this is a …

Theresa May is risking the future of the British Union if she fails to recognise that Westminster is no longer “in control”

Brian Walker on October 11, 2016, 9:16 am

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Scottish nationalism is on the defensive for the first time in over a decade. On the other hand, English nationalism could give it second wind if it thinks it can a score an easy victory without acknowledging its enduring power. At this juncture, it’s true that one early outcome of the Brexit confusion leaning towards a hard Brexit is that Nicola Sturgeon’s calculations have become more complicated. On the eve of the SNP annual conference former Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill …

High tech can soften the prospect of a hard border, but it’s no Trojan horse.

Brian Walker on October 10, 2016, 12:23 am

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The Guardian has posted an early lead from its Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald quoting NI Secretary James Brokenshire saying that: London and Dublin will work to strengthen Ireland’s external borders in order to combat illegal migration into the UK once it leaves the European Union. “There was now a high level of collaboration on a joint programme of work” between the two states to control immigration. We have put in place a range of measures to further combat illegal migration …

On dealing with the past, Brokenshire should demand Executive action or withdraw the money

Brian Walker on October 8, 2016, 1:24 pm

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James Brokenshire is at least the eighth secretary of state to utter warm words about dealing with the past. It’s almost two years since the abortive Stormont House Agreement described new structures headed by a new Historic Investigations Unit. £150 million will be made available by Westminster over the next five years to implement the full package. Brokenshire is the latest UK minister to acquaint himself of “the raw emotion, the pain etc” and to repeat the government’s pledge of …

The Irish in GB are offered Brexit reassurances. Do they really need them?

Brian Walker on October 6, 2016, 10:11 am

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The Times (£) is carrying a story ” Irish NHS staff reassured over hard Brexit” reporting that Irish nurses and doctors will remain a key part of the NHS in England, ” despite plans to make the “British” ( sic – they mean English) health service self sufficient within ten years.” This is typical of stories in the London press which are confused about devolution and lump together Irish immigrants with others as foreign. Much of officialdom is ignorant about …

Theresa May’s pitch of broad-based British patriotism will have appeal, including the swipe at ” divisive nationalists.”

Brian Walker on October 5, 2016, 4:38 pm

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Theresa May has given part of the answer to Mick, they’ll both be glad to hear. Richard Wynne Jones, a highly respected friend , has an important part of the story. We Celts ( if I can call us that), are still more programmed for identity politics than the English. See also Fintan O’Toole. But we should remember that while the big dog of English nationalism has growled a bit, it hasn’t yet bitten us, its smaller neighbours. Quite the …

Ireland will have to spell out what they mean by special status for the North – assuming they know what it is.

Brian Walker on October 4, 2016, 10:58 am

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Reactions have been predictable in Ireland to the“hard Brexit” tone of Theresa May’s brief conference speech in Sunday and her rejection of the idea of giving a Brexit veto to Scotland or Northern Ireland . The Irish government are as worried as they are ignorant of British intentions. The DUP remain defiantly pro-Leave and opposed to all – Ireland consultation at this stage. The Dail as a whole is now gloomier about prospects for an open border. Poor Ireland, bursting with goodwill …

Scotland and Northern Ireland’s legal consent for Brexit is not required – Theresa May

Brian Walker on October 3, 2016, 11:44 am

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“There is no opt-out from Brexit. And I will never allow divisive nationalists to undermine the precious Union between the four nations of our United Kingdom.” Theresa May has Scotland in mind here of course but the uncompromising “no opt out” applies equally to Northern Ireland. The “consultation” that is promised is therefore to be by grace and favour of the UK government. But there is still no word on what form that consultation may take. We know now that …

Theresa May’s new assurances on the border and consultation raise more questions than provide answers

Brian Walker on September 30, 2016, 6:13 pm

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In advance of the Conservative party conference and with speculation running about a hard Brexit, Theresa May has given an interview to BBC Scotland and BBC Northern Ireland to try to assure their governments that they won’t be ignored in formulating the UK Brexit strategy. This is in spite of the UK government’s insistence in court that Brexit is a matter reserved to Westminster and there is no legal requirement to consult them. Politics however is a different matter. I …

600 English lawyers so far have registered in the Republic in the wake of the Brexit vote

Brian Walker on September 30, 2016, 8:54 am

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From the Times’ The Brief Post-Brexit rush for qualification in Ireland gathers pace Slaughter and May – arguably the most pukka of English law firms – is leading a pack of City of London practices in rushing to Dublin to qualify its lawyers in the republic. It is understood that the blue blood firm has already funded ten lawyers to apply with the Law Society of Ireland to transfer to that profession and retain practice rights in the EU once …

An Irish “conversation” is one thing, but what role for Stormont in the British conversation?

Brian Walker on September 29, 2016, 8:38 am

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The Institute for Government is a think tank that works closely with government. It reports that turf wars are already costing tens of millions. Its expert on devolution Akash Paun blogs that Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont should get their act together to pool their influence at the centre. Following exchanges over an Irish “conversation,” is Stormont up to it where it matters most? It is unlikely the UK’s four governments will come together as equal partners, with parity of …

Unionists have to be nudged to talk, with the incentives of common citizenship and other common interests

Brian Walker on September 28, 2016, 10:38 am

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Enda Kenny is surely right to be cautious about setting up an “all-Ireland forum” Better to have a “conversation” at least to start with in November. Even so its ability to speak for all Ireland would be seriously weakened by the absence of unionists, just as it would be counter- productive for the unionists not to take part eventually . As things stand, Northern Ireland’s regional government is therefore neither formally or informally to be represented. A fully fledged forum …

Brexit secrecy may have “breached ministerial code”. So is the Executive’s line only to wait for Theresa?

Brian Walker on September 27, 2016, 4:03 pm

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UUP leader Mike Nesbitt’s charge that a briefing paper on the negative implications of Brexit apparently withheld from the former multiparty Executive by the FM and dFM in May 2015 may have been in breach of the ministerial code, is a neat move by a party now in formal opposition. It is also a small coup by The Detail which has just published the document after an FoI request. Was it a breach of the ministerial code as Nesbitt claims? …

Brexit panic is overdone, but London has still to take in the implications for the Union

Brian Walker on September 26, 2016, 9:46 am

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Here at last is a cogent view of the case I’ve been arguing about Brexit – with a touch of optimism added – from economist Graham Gudgin, a former adviser to David Trimble. Extreme negative predictions about the impact of Brexit stem from false beliefs about the importance of the EU in both economic progress in Ireland and political progress in Northern Ireland… Contrary to what we are continually told, EU membership does not seem to have had a noticeably …

It’s a no brainer. Dublin will cleave to the British-Irish relationship to navigate through Brexit rather than become persuaders for unity

Brian Walker on September 23, 2016, 11:48 am

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Chris Donnelly is right to believe that Brexit will give an immediate boost to the cause of a United Ireland and he expresses it in terms well removed from the old Sinn Fein mantra. In the longer term, Brexit presents an unexpected opportunity for many in nationalist Ireland to develop a vision of an Ireland embracing an interdependent role and future amongst European peoples, in contrast to a unionist vision of a United Kingdom increasingly standing apart from its European …

SAS commander Blair Mayne’s reputation reviewed in an authorised history

Brian Walker on September 22, 2016, 12:13 pm

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Well whaddya know! The last shreds of mystery have been torn away, as the UK government has authorised “Rogue Heroes, an authorised History of the SAS” by Ben McIntyre. The Times (£) has been extracting from it as he is an assistant editor. The history is limited to the WW2 and the immediate post war period. It doesn’t take in more recent SAS activity like the “war on terror” in Iraq and even Syria and long days spent on surveillance …

The problems of Brexit are big enough without nurturing new grievances against the Brits

Brian Walker on September 21, 2016, 11:27 am

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In his eloquent contributions to the Mount Stewart conversations, (warm thanks to Alan), Fintan O’Toole in terms stated as fact that the people had exercised an irreversible act of sovereignty in approving the Good Friday Agreement enshrined in international treaty. This had been violated by the “reckless” imposition of Brexit on the Northern Ireland. The UK government had no right to try to take Northern Ireland out of the EU, because a majority voted to Remain. Not only that, his …