Brexit – Page 4 – Slugger O'Toole

The road to Brexit – part one…

Robert Campbell on March 23, 2021, 8:00 am

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Introduction The United Kingdom joined the Common Market (EEC) on 1 January 1973[1]; the prime minister responsible was a Conservative, Edward Heath. Two years later two-thirds of voters agreed with this in a referendum called by a Labour prime minister, Harold Wilson. In 2016, a Conservative prime minister, David Cameron, called a European Union (EU) referendum and narrowly lost. What had happened to the UK and the EU in-between for this to happen[2]? Why did the EEC/EU become such an …

Mini-super power or Pacific dream?

Jay Burbank on March 20, 2021, 9:35 am

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Security is never far behind trade, indeed the leading conceptual theory behind the European Union is that by creating an intricate network of trade in goods and services the cost of any conflict or even minor security issue would be too great – for even the largest of nations in the network. What then are we to make of “Global Britain” beginning to flex its muscles in the Asia-Pacific region (‘ASPAC’)? The UK has officially applied to join the ‘Trans-Pacific …

The latest real world effects of the protocol standoff

Brian Walker on March 18, 2021, 12:00 pm

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There’s a mixed picture of trade in and out of both parts of Ireland, some of them temporary and perverse The good news? Via Sky News A lot of freight, up by 4.3% in February, is now sent from British ports to Northern Ireland on ferries and then driven down into Ireland. More goods are now moving between Britain and Belfast because freight can now be sent from Britain to Ireland through Northern Ireland without complex customs procedures. Ferry data analysed …

Behind the Paddy’s Day rituals, how deep is the Stormont crisis?

Brian Walker on March 18, 2021, 7:26 am

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With so much guff, bluff and ritual about it, St Patrick’s Day is a poor bellwether for judging the state of affairs in Ireland remotely – and perhaps no better on the spot either. One glance at privileged youff crowding Botanic Gardens in defiance of lockdown, you might have groaned with me: “ Not the Holylands again. “ However BBCNI’s news story was encouraging. St Patrick's Day: Police clear crowds at Belfast's Botanic Gardens https://t.co/Fp6LvjTOC8 — Darran Marshall (@DarranMarshall) March …

Boris Johnson has refused Arlene Foster on the protocol. Both governments and the EU should now get off their high horses and fix it.

Brian Walker on March 13, 2021, 2:19 pm

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Time was when prime ministers visited somewhere they used it as the backdrop to make a substantial speech about where they stood on the policy or move things along. Think back to Tony Blair’s “acts of completion”. Can you imagine Boris Johnson submitting himself to questions about his post Brexit and pro Union strategies? Nowadays it’s enough for Johnson to turn up for a box ticking exercise, high viz vested or in a white coat, elbows bumping, for a few …

Do not let your loyalty become slavery

Peter Farrelly on February 18, 2021, 1:49 pm

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Seven weeks. That is the number of weeks since Christmas Eve 2020. Remember the day? The UK celebrated the “oven-ready” Brexit deal brokered with the European Union. A deal heralded by the British Government as the perfect Christmas present for all those within the UK. Seven weeks. That is the number of weeks it took for some members of the British Government to start murmuring discontent at their prestigious deal of leaving one union to solidify their own. “Teething issues” …

Loyalism’s Response to the Northern Ireland Protocol…

Michael Palmer on February 18, 2021, 10:18 am

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We have seen media coverage of the banners, posters and murals being put up rejecting the Irish Sea Border, the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol and even in some cases withdrawing support from the Good Friday Agreement and calling for the collapse of Stormont. However, behind this disapproval and anger, we have not seen analysis of why specifically loyalists are rejecting the Northern Ireland Protocol; their understanding of recent political events relating to it and what they propose to …

Arlene must tell us if she agrees with Peter Robinson’s option of Assembly withdrawal to fight the protocol

Brian Walker on February 12, 2021, 1:16 pm

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Peter Robinson under arrest at Clontibret 1986 Arlene Foster has all but declared the DUP’s lack of confidence in the UK government’s efforts to renegotiate the protocol. From the sidelines her predecessor Peter Robinson is tempting her to contemplate doing something more dramatic about it than protest. With his acute ear he has picked up the drumbeats not only from the DUP core but from the loyalist undergrowth. Cannily attempting to insure against taking the blame for another “flegs” debacle, …

Moderate Irish Nationalism is talking at Unionists, not with Unionists, and that will set us all back.

Soapbox on February 11, 2021, 8:46 pm

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Philip Wilson is a Belfast-based writer who is involved in Northern Irish politics. He has a Master’s in Politics from King’s College London When Irish Nationalists like Simon Coveney and Matthew O’Toole suggest that Brexit, and not the protocol, is the problem, they deny Unionists their full place in the United Kingdom and implicitly dilute the vote of Unionists as full citizens of the UK. In no sense can this be interpreted as in the spirit of the Belfast/Good Friday …

Leading constitutional expert backs DUP objections to the Protocol

Brian Walker on February 6, 2021, 9:15 pm

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Prof Vernon Bogdanor Let us is suspend for a moment blaming the DUP for helping to saddle us with customs forms and phytosanitary checks at Belfast and Larne. Let us praise the SDLP and Alliance for looking for the bright side, at the competitive advantage NI business can enjoy NI to EU and GB if only the checks GB to NI are drastically reduced. Mitigation may yet be the name of the game. But now a thunderbolt has been hurled …

Unionism’s Approach To The NI Protocol Is Disappointing But Not Surprising…

Stephen Donnan-Dalzell on February 6, 2021, 12:05 pm

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I’m not going to pretend to understand the legal minutiae of the Northern Ireland Protocol, Article 16, or the ins and outs of the Brexit agreement struck between the UK and the EU, but what I do understand is the reaction from mainstream Unionism, and that’s what I’m going to talk about. Before I get into it I just want to put out there that I voted Remain, my husband voted Leave. I live in a working class, predominantly Protestant …

In a time of unprecedented threat, we need calm heads, and an ability to change our minds.

Peter Farrelly on February 2, 2021, 7:30 am

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I do not think I need to overly emphasise how chaotic of a start to the year 2021 has been. From spiralling Covid-19 cases both sides of the border caused by a strain that came from Britain, the effects of Brexit, vaccinations programmes some of which have been thrown in the dark by pharmaceutical companies promising the world and the sun, any mention of an ‘All-Island Approach’ and not to forget, the heavy daily debates which surround all of the …

“To hell with the future and long live the past”. Allison Morris turns it around when contemplating a border poll. But has the EU Commission just changed the odds by uniting north and south against them ?

Brian Walker on January 29, 2021, 6:38 pm

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D The new Ulster University campus under construction In this year of different centenary commemorations north and south (sorry,”markings”), Allison Morris has written a terrifically interesting piece in the Irish News . When it comes to weighing the issues for a border poll, she raises the desire for a better life above the call of background, tradition and history, yes even the history of the Troubles. Without labouring the point, contrast this with the run of comment in the Newsletter …

Brexit: it’s time to stop gloating and start making some money…

Brian O'Neill on January 25, 2021, 8:37 am

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For political junkies, Brexit is the gift that keeps on giving. Every day we get a new story of how Brexit will destroy the union and cripple various sectors of the economy. For those of us who voted against it, it is hard not to have a smug I told you so attitude. But watching the excellent Ted Lasso last night one of the characters made the observation that every disadvantage is an advantage. More specifically England’s disadvantage can be …

UK breakup. The vacuum where the Union case should be stands exposed

Brian Walker on January 24, 2021, 12:07 pm

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Will the drum roll start for a border poll and wreck the prospects for even slim collaboration for dealing with the massive and more immediate challenges of Covid and Brexit – and just governing ? Or will it promote a virtuous competition between the DUP and Sinn Fein over which of them will be the better collaborator in government, with the hope of wooing the uncommitted to their existential cause? Will the minor parties get squeezed or flourish amid growing …

Brexit blues and the future of the UK

Brian Walker on January 20, 2021, 1:10 pm

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Brian O’Neill beat me to it. George Osborne the thwarted crown prince of Tory politics called Theresa May “ a dead woman walking “ long before she lost the third meaningful vote. He was right there and he may turn to be right now. Amazing how defeated politicians turn into prophets. If you think you can see the right route at the fork in the road you have a 50% chance of being right in advance and 100% if you …

When are the DUP going to ditch the Tories?

Sarah Creighton on January 14, 2021, 9:00 am

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“What did we do to members on those benches over there, to be screwed over by this protocol,” Ian Paisley asked in Parliament yesterday, “ask your hearts, what did we do?” Oh Ian. It’s a cliché at this point to quote Edward Carson’s “What a fool I was…” speech. It’s boring. We all know it by now. I prefer the bit after that famous line: “And of all the men in my experience that I think are the most loathsome it …

Ian Paisley – “What did we do to members on those benches over there to be screwed over by this protocol?”

Brian O'Neill on January 13, 2021, 6:07 pm

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The right honourable member for North Antrim seems a little upset with how the Conservative Government is handling the Northern Ireland Protocol. Some might be inclined to say you reap what you sow, but I could not possibly comment. "What did we do to members on those benches over there to be screwed over by this protocol?" DUP MP Ian Paisley says the Northern Ireland Protocol has "ruined trade" between NI and GB – as he criticises Boris Johnson for …

A more refreshing debate on Ireland’s future has just been ignited

Brian Walker on January 11, 2021, 11:58 am

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We are looking at a border poll within the next ten years, and reunification could happen within 20 years. I believe events will move a lot faster than any of us could ever envisage. Just look at Brexit, who could have predicted that five years ago? Brian O’Neill may be right or he may be wrong. But we need something more than speculation. A new debate has been ignited in the Irish Times. Prof Pete Shirlow goes for developing the …

Irish unity : going nowhere fast

Brendan Heading on December 20, 2020, 10:15 pm

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So how’s the Irish reunification campaign coming along ? According to Sinn Féin President, Mary Lou McDonald, there doesn’t need to be one, because it’s already been won. A few days ago, speaking to Owen Jones, McDonald said of a United Ireland : ‘We’ll do it in the next decade. We’ll do it in this decade, actually.’ This is an example of the nationalist equivalent of the ‘inevitability doctrine’ I wrote about a few months back. In my previous article, …