By Stephen Bailey.
The Northern Ireland Protocol has effectively created a border down the Irish Sea which has cut Northern Ireland off from the rest of the U.K.
This has created several difficulties in exporting goods and materials to and from N.I. to other parts of the U.K., leading to knock on problems such as food shortages.
There are also the constitutional implications for the unitary integrity of the U.K. as well. If Northern Ireland remains under the control of the E.U. Single Market, it makes it considerably easier for her to be re-integrated with the Republic of Ireland, which is an E.U. member.
Baron Moylan, the former Chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation, former Deputy Chairman of Transport for London and advisor to Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London, has stated that the E.U.’s behaviour in regards to the N.I. Protocol and its implementation was indicative of a desire by Eurocrats to coerce the U.K. into falling into line with its single market rules and regulations, as well as ultimately, to pave the way for her to return to the E.U. at a later date.
Moylan also expressed concern over comments made by the European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic who stated that relations between the bloc and the U.K. would ‘sour’ if the situation over the N.I. Protocol was not resolved.
Moylan explained that this statement by Mr Sefcovic was really just a veiled threat to the U.K.
What the E.U. is actually saying is that the U.K. could reduce taxes in Northern Ireland if only she came back in the bloc and started following their rules on food and agriculture.
The E.U. wants to draw the U.K. partially back into the European Union, so she follows some of its rules once more. In this way, the bloc regains a degree of control over the U.K. once again.
This is just subterfuge by the E.U.
They are using Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, as a tool to regain partial control over her internal regulations, food and drink sector and also to make it more difficult for her to conclude international trade deals. This is obviously inimical to the U.K.’s sovereignty and so is totally unacceptable.
It is therefore of paramount importance that the U.K.’s Chief Negotiator with the E.U., David Frost, recognises this threat to our sovereignty and doesn’t concede to the E.U.’s underhand tactics.
He should make it expressly and unambiguously clear that the U.K. will not be coerced into this course of action which is so detrimental to our best interests.
In the current re-negotiations over the N.I. Protocol between the U.K. and the E.U., Frost has displayed a solid enough toughness and consistency in stressing the absolute need to both restore unconstrained trade between N.I. and the rest of the U.K. (this restriction is a direct negation of the Union as freedom of trade between the parts of the U.K. is a guaranteed clause of the Treaty of Union) and protecting our sovereignty by demanding the removal of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (E.C.J.) over N.I.’s affairs as regards the Protocol.
He MUST keep this up and ensure a satisfactory outcome to the re – negotiations, meaning the complete scrapping of the Protocol and the E.C.J.’s jurisdiction over N.I. NOTHING ELSE WILL DO.
The E.U. must learn to compromise. They must rethink their current attitude which can be paraphrased and summarised colloquially as ‘Come back into the European Union – we don’t have to change anything, but you could just make it all easy by rejoining the European Union a bit here, a bit there and soon enough you’ll be back under the our control’.
This episode is a clear indicator of the approach that the E.U. is taking with the U.K. over Brexit.
Right from the beginning of negotiations five years ago, the bloc adopted an exceptionally heavy handed approach and attempted a mixture of bullying and covert tactics in order to force the U.K. back into line.
This policy looks set to continue into the future and the U.K. must be vigilant in protecting herself from these Machiavellian machinations and steering a course towards a prosperous future.
For more from Stephen Bailey please visit: https://ukunionism.wordpress.com/blog-2/
© 2021 Stephen Bailey
