The Tories now plan to introduce legislation enabling unilateral action on the NI Protocol are a clear sign that the British government "simply cannot be trusted", it was claimed last night.
Reports emerged yesterday that the proposals will be announced in next month's Queens speech and will include sweeping new powers to tear-up the post-Brexit trade arrangements agreed and signed with the European Union.
NIO minister Conor Burns claimed unsubstantiated untruths that the Protocol was causing "significant societal disruption" and he insisted the (Never Trust A Tory) government "reserves the right" to take remedial action.
Boris (The Clown) Johnson said his government is ready to take measures to "fix" the deal with the EU, claiming it "does not command the confidence of a large part" (which is also untrue) of the north's population. Protestants are no longer the largest part of the nation's population in the North of Ireland Boris. "We think we can do it with some very simple and reasonable steps," he said during a visit to India.
"We have talked repeatedly to our friends and partners in the EU. We will continue to to them but as I have said many times now we don't rule out taking steps now if those are necessary." Speaking at the latest anti-Protocol rally in north Belfast last night, TUV leader Jim Allister said it would take more than newspaper reports to solve the Brexit Sea Border issues. "For months the government have been suggesting that they will move on the border which shamefully divides the United Kingdom but there have been no delivery," he said. "Now, on the verge of an election, there is yet another suggestion that something may be done."
Sinn Féin's Connor Murphy accused the government of "riding a coach and horses through agreements". "Any action that the British government have taken have been about their own selfish interests, regardless of how reckless they have been," he told the BBC.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the reports showed that the Johnson administration "simply cannot be trusted". "This is about shoring up his position with the hardline ERG [ European Research Group] and shoring up the DUP's position ahead of an election," he said.
Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry said any unilateral action by the Tories would "undermine efforts to find long-term solutions to the challenges posed by Brexit".
NIO minister: EU deal causing 'significant societal disruption'
NIO minister Conor Burns yesterday claimed the protocol is causing "significant societal disruption" as he insisted the British government "reserves the right" (this is the same government minister who defended Boris Johnson in the cake row) to take unilateral remedial action on the post-Brexit arrangements.
REMEMBER THIS: "Well, he, as far as I can see, he was in a sense, ambushed with a cake!" (Never Trust A Tory).
His comments followed reports that the Tories are preparing legislation that would give them sweeping powers to tear-up the protocol element of the Withdrawal Agreement. Boris Johnson said his government was ready to take measures if necessary to "fix" the deal with the EU, claiming it "does not command the confidence of a large part" of the north's population ( I don't believe that Boris checked the demographics lately).
Mr Sammy Wilson, left, with Mr Conor Burns, centre, and Nigel Farage, right.
All keeping great company, while cheering on the benefits of Brexit
"We think we can do it with some very simple and reasonable steps," he said on a recent visit to India. "We have talked repeatedly to our friends and partners in the EU. We will continue to talk to them but as I have said many times now we don't rule out taking steps now if those are necessary."
In an interview with LBC, Mr Burns refused to be drawn on a report by the Financial Times that the British government is planning legislation that would allow it to scrap parts of the protocol. The move comes less than a fortnight ahead of the Stormont election on May 5th. "As far back as last July the prime minister said that we believed that the threshold for triggering Article 16 of the *orthern Ireland Protocol had been reached," Mr Burns, pictured below, said.
"The committee considers that Mr Burns' abuse of his privileged status in an attempt to intimate a member of the public calls for a sanction more severe than apology. " It recommends that Mr Burns should be suspended from the service of the House for seven days."
"There is significant societal disruption in *orthern Ireland due to the way that the protocol is being implemented - I hope Brussels are listening to this conversation and other conversations."
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the reports showed that the Johnson administration "simply cannot be trusted."
"It will come as no shock to many in *orthern Ireland that Boris Johnson is desperate to distract from the political turmoil he is experiencing and that he's willing to throw us under the bus to do it," he said. "This is about shoring up his position with the hardline ERG [ European Research Group] and shoring up the DUP's position ahead of an election. Come May 5th, Johnson will dump Jeffrey and the DUP again - they never learn.
Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry said any unilateral action by the Tories would "undermine efforts to find long-term solutions to the challenges posed by Brexit". He said it would be "counter-productive and damaging". "The protocol exists to reflect the choices made by the UK government on Brexit," he said.
ACTION 'DAMAGING': Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry.
"There are of course challenges arising from Brexit and the implementation of the protocol. Businesses need pragmatic and sustainable solutions, and crucially they must be legal."
Labour's Peter Kyle condemned the reported plan and questioned how Mr Johnson can negotiate a trade deal with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi at the same time. "This is absolutely astonishing and incredibly damaging," the shadow *orthern Ireland secretary told Sky News.
"Boris Johnson negotiated, his team drafted the *orthern Ireland Protocol. They presented it to the EU, they negotiated it into the deal."
Johnson's cycle of stunts, threats and theatrics is designed to distract us while currying favour from the hard Brexiteers
ANALYSIS
WE SHOULD no longer be surprised by the British government's antics. Boris Johnson and his team of top Tories will seemingly do anything to save their own skins.
Then there are the diversionary stunts. First it was Priti Patel's hare-brained plan to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda, an initiative so utterly extravagant that it could only have been deliberately devised to elicit an adverse reaction. Now, as the heat is turned up further on Johnson into whether he misled MP’s, reports emerge of planned legislation that would enable (the worst government ever in British history) the British government to scrap parts of the protocol.
The report in the Financial Times came within 24 hours of arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg saying Britain would "reform" the post-Brexit trade arrangements. Coupled with remarks Boris Johnson made in India about being ready to take measures if necessary to "fix" the protocol, it would appear we are once again in the realms of deliberate antagonism and blatant expediency. Discussions with the EU over resolving the often-overplayed issues with the protocol have been parked for the duration of the assembly election campaign. Yet somehow this is being being portrayed as Brussels' intransigence, even though a breakthrough on guarantees about the supply of medicines to the north emerged little over a fortnight ago.
It has been suggested that the necessary legislation the British government needs could be included in the queen's speech on May 10th. On one hand, this appears like a major escalation, yet on the other it looks like they're lying on the histrionics a little too thickly.
We've all been here before with last year's UK Internal Markets Bill and Liz Truss's remarks in January that suggested the British government planned to tear up the Withdrawal Agreement. For all the bluster and inflammatory rehoric of the past 18 months we've seen no substantive action, no triggering of Article 16 and no suspension of checks on goods arriving from Britain. They'll huff and puff to create a distraction and placate the European Research Group but would they really be foolhardy enough to renege on an International treaty with all the reputational damage that would entail?
On the domestic front, some are dressing up the latest stunt as a move that may help the faster restoration of the Stormont institutions after the election. That's at best a naivety optimistic reading of a plan that would have ramifications much greater than a few hundred protesters taking to the streets.
This British government has apparently gone out of its way to indulge the DUP yet MP Jeffrey Donaldson's party has gained no tangible advantage, while always running the risk of again being thrown under a bus again and being DUPed once again by the British PM. The simplest way to ensure stability and put devolution on a firm footing is to tell the DUP a few home truths and stress that they must live with the consequences of their actions in backing Brexit.
The continued cycle of stunts, threats and theatrics is becoming tiresome.
With many thanks to: The Irish News and John Manley POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT for the original publication.
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