Brexit – Page 3 – Slugger O'Toole

Are Protocol wars about to go beyond posturing?

Brian Walker on November 8, 2021, 1:56 pm

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Is this for real? The Daily Telegraph, the FT and the Irish Times are all agreed on a significant hardening of positions on the Protocol. Using their own debased form of signalling, loyalist paramilitaries are piling on pressure that Lord Frost for the UK government seems only too willing to accept. Where is this leading? A closer look at the Daily Telegraph closest to UKG sources, suggests a timetable from the end of this month for deciding to invoke Article …

The UK government have a stronger hand in the Protocol dispute than their critics think

Brian Walker on October 15, 2021, 4:00 pm

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Lord Frost Well, where are we on the Protocol? As talks begin in Brussels which are expected to last for months , Lord Frost says there’s a long way to go. EU vice president Šefčovič insists the EU has reached its limit. Those are the public positions. Even the briefings are somewhat contradictory. The Times hopefully reports that the EU is open to a compromise deal that would limit the role of EU Court of Justice in Northern Ireland, with …

The Union will not survive the end of the NI Protocol

Brendan Heading on October 11, 2021, 10:49 pm

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I’m sure everyone must be feeling as exhausted and frustrated as I am to see that once again we’re back to groundhog day once again with the European Union and the UK launching into another period of tense negotiations. I don’t want to spend a lot of time going over what is currently going on when there is plenty of fine – and infinitely more qualified – commentary available elsewhere, except to say that it sounds like the UK is …

“Five to 10 years down the road, we’re looking at Irish unification because the economic forces at work just aren’t going to be reconcilable with the political situation.”

Brian O'Neill on October 6, 2021, 10:59 am

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ireland, connemara, nature

Some Unionists may have choked on their Rice Crispies this morning reading Margaret Canning’s story in the Belfast Telegraph – Reunification of Ireland is close, says top economist Posen. From the article: The reunification of Ireland will take place “within five to 10 years” because the conflict between politics and the economy under the NI Protocol is not sustainable, an economist has said. Dr Adam S Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said he believed there was …

The protocol is being attacked not because it doesn’t work, but because it DOES…

Brian O'Neill on October 5, 2021, 1:59 pm

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bicycle, children, graffiti

Speakers at the Policy Exchange think that businesses in Northern Ireland have adjusted very well to the new situation. The issue for Unionists seems to be that they have adjusted too well and North/South trade has been increasing. Backing Brexit has forced Northern Ireland into an economic United Ireland and best of all business is booming. Can Unionists ever get out of the corner they have painted themselves into? Hey, stop laughing at the back… Quite the admission on the …

The Brexit Solution

Brendan Heading on October 4, 2021, 9:59 pm

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After the end of the transition period The leader of Traditional Unionist Voice Stated at a fringe meeting at the Manchester Convention Centre That the manufacturing sector Had forfeited the confidence of Unionism And could only win it back By redoubled efforts. Would it not in that case be simpler To dissolve the manufacturing sector And appoint another? Brendan Headingcentre-leftish waffler working in IT and living in Belfast Writing in a strictly personal capacity – all opinions are exclusively those …

Now is the winter of our discontent…

Brian O'Neill on September 24, 2021, 11:29 am

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tree, snow, winter

Wow, things are looking bleak for poor old Blighty. Energy prices through the roof, bins not being emptied, food shortages, petrol shortages, staff shortages, [insert just about everything] shortages. Unsurprisingly when you tell people not to panic-buy they automatically go out and panic buy. Personally, I have taken matters into my own hands and I have 1000 litres of petrol stored in old plastic milk jugs in the shed. They are next to the pile of illegal fireworks I picked …

Mini-Public Deliberation on Constitutional Futures – Launch Event…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on September 16, 2021, 4:58 pm

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On the 23rd of September 2021, the Institute for British-Irish Studies (IBIS) at UCD in collaboration with the Democracy Unit at Queen’s will host a launch event at which researchers will share findings of the Mini-Public Deliberative Forum on Constitutional Futures organised in the Republic of Ireland by the Constitutional Futures after Brexit Project. In 2019, IBIS established the Constitutional Futures after Brexit as a three-year project to conduct research on the implications of the UK’s decision to withdraw from …

Bluff or confrontation is the looming choice, as pressures mount over the NI Protocol

Brian Walker on September 9, 2021, 11:49 am

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Over the Protocol, somebody’s bluff will be called over the next few weeks. But whose? If he’s to be believed Jeffrey Donaldson has just announced that if the EU doesn’t concede the abolition of most inspections at the ports, the DUP will quit the Assembly. The immediate withdrawal of DUP ministers from north-south bodies except over Covid liaison is the warning shot across the bows. Donaldson’s threats deliberately coincide with the visit of EU vice president Maroš Šefčovič to address …

Post-Brexit UK Food Industry Is £2bn Worse Off…

Brian O'Neill on September 3, 2021, 10:42 am

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spaghetti, tomatoes, basil

You may have noticed that there have been massive issues lately with supply chains. There was a certain amount of schadenfreude on social media about Wetherspoons running out of beer. Wetherspoons, whose founder Tim Martin strongly backed the UK leaving the EU, has been hit by beer shortages caused by Brexit https://t.co/gVoprpOOYF — LBC (@LBC) September 1, 2021 How much of this is due to Brexit and how much is due to the pandemic is hard to tell. What we …

In England crops are left to rot as there are not enough workers to pick them…

Brian O'Neill on July 26, 2021, 8:09 am

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I deplore waste, especially food waste. With so much hunger in the world, it is a scandal how much food is wasted in rich countries. They estimate the average UK family throws out £700 worth of food a year. But what of the food that never even reaches the shops? Euronews reports on the crops left to rot as there are not enough workers to pick them. From the article: Fruit and vegetables are being left to rot in England …

“He did not read the protocol, he has not read the bill, he does not know his stuff”…

Brian O'Neill on July 22, 2021, 8:41 pm

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As Labour leader, Ed Miliband’s awkward geekiness never found favour with the English voters but he has grown in stature over the years. His Reasons to be cheerful podcast is an entertaining and informative listen. In his day job role as MP and shadow Minister, he gave Boris quite the evisceration over his handling of NI Protocol. It makes for an entertaining watch. https://twitter.com/WinstonCProject/status/1417855877697179653?s=20 But all this is water of a ducks back for Boris. Very little sticks to our …

The Northern Ireland Protocol: The High Court has its say

Sarah Creighton on July 1, 2021, 9:27 am

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Who knew constitutional law could be so dramatic? The High Court has dismissed a legal challenge to the Northern Ireland Protocol by several unionist politicians. The political ramifications are likely to carry us through July, a traditionally calm month in Northern Ireland. As always when there’s a high-profile judgment, people will take what they can and use it for political capital. You wouldn’t think the unionist claimants had lost. Others seem to think the matter is settled and we should …

Event: Queen’s Policy Engagement June Post-Brexit Clinic Wednesday 30 June 2021 at 12.30pm…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on June 28, 2021, 3:01 pm

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Following on from our long-running series of Brexit Clinics at Queen’s, this new series of public engagement events look at the latest developments in the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU and at the implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. Since our last Clinic, the two main Unionist party leaders have stepped down and been replaced, accusations have been made that the Ireland/N.Ireland Protocol is destabilizing Northern Ireland’s future political stability and the post-Brexit EU-UK trade agreement has finally …

How the NI Protocol protects the Agreement

Brendan Heading on June 26, 2021, 8:04 pm

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To the chagrin of Unionist politicians, it’s often emphasised by the four governments (UK, Ireland, EU, and US) that the Northern Ireland Protocol exists to protect the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. For reasons which are understandable when examined in isolation, Unionism feels let down by the promise of the Agreement. I can see where they are coming from. The Agreement is based on cross community consent; the Protocol does not recognise this. British citizens are asked to …

Militancy can only expose Edwin Poots’ weakness. Instead he can claim credit if David Frost delivers acceptable mitigation of protocol terms

Brian Walker on May 17, 2021, 3:14 pm

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The tempo of Protocol politics is quickening. Fresh from calling into the Arcadia deli on the Lisburn road ( a favourite haunt of SDLP, Alliance and Green voters no doubt as it once was of mine ), Brexit minster Lord Frost has issued what sounds like an ultimatum to the EU. “If the Protocol operates so as to damage the political, social, or economic fabric of life in Northern Ireland, then that situation cannot be sustained for long”. The new …

David O’Sullivan: The EU at 70 – still going strong?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 10, 2021, 10:20 pm

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Watch back this evening’s Hume Foundation inaugural European Spirit of Peace Lecture, delivered by David O’Sullivan (former EU ambassador to the US) which looked at the EU 70 years on and asked whether it was going strong. He had cautionary words for those conflating the Irish constitutional issue with practical aspects of the NI Protocol which he said was “unhelpful” and could “destabilise many in the Unionist community”.

If Edwin Poots tried to crash the Assembly it would open the door to a border poll

Brian Walker on May 1, 2021, 2:42 pm

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Let’s assume Edwin Poots is a shoo-in for the DUP leadership. Comfortable in his minor elder statesman role at Westminster, Jeffrey Donaldson hasn’t the stomach for a contest. He might be willing to accept it on a plate but that’s not going to happen. With more than a hint of desperation, some of us have been foisting the Nixon goes to China model onto Poots, meaning that the hardliner in politics may be better placed to compromise than the liberal. …

Brexit breakthrough on the protocol? Try this for size

Brian Walker on March 29, 2021, 2:23 pm

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If you’re one of those souls who follow every twist and turn of Stormont politics, there’s one thing you shouldn’t overlook; that sorting out the Brexit rows which are stoking division are largely beyond local control. Another is what Newton reminded us recently, that Stormont boycott is now a risky strategy. The Executive can stagger on for the best part of a year in the absence of one leading party – guess who? – but with an election somewhere along …

The road to Brexit – part two…

Robert Campbell on March 24, 2021, 7:26 am

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You can read part one here… The Conservative Party and Brexit In her Bruges speech on 20 September 1988 Margaret Thatcher said[1]: We have not embarked on the business of throwing back the frontiers of state at home only to see a European superstate getting ready to exercise a new dominance from Brussels. The speech exposed the divisions in the Conservative party between Europhiles and Eurosceptics. The date is conventionally taken as the start of the Brexit process[2]. In a …