Is the EU Pushing for a United Ireland?

by Louise Mclean

Currently the people of Northern Ireland are so incensed about the way they have been sold out to the EU by the British Government, that violent nightly riots have been going on all over Northern Ireland since 29th March.

Update May 2021:  Lawsuit - Defending the Union of the UK, Ending the Northern Ireland Protocol

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/defending-the-union-of-the-uk/

Ever since Brexit finally happened at the very end of 2020, it has been a very hollow victory for its supporters, mainly because of the terms and conditions relating to Northern Ireland.  The Northern Ireland Protocol, which Unionist politicians believe should be scrapped immediately, has created a border down the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain, causing a number of serious problems.  

Here a former Brexit Party MEP, Ben Habib, explains why the Northern Ireland Protocol should be dropped and says the border should have remained on the mainland, between the North and South of Ireland, as it has done for over 100 years. 

Firstly, Northern Ireland has effectively been kept under EU law and secondly it is still in the Single Market for goods, so trade between it and the rest of Britain has been seriously impacted. Trade has become too expensive and lined with red tape for British exporters to make it worth their while, meaning that many products are now missing from the shelves of the shops in Northern Ireland.

Problems surrounding trade mean products must comply with strict EU rules on for example, animal and plant health, and traders must complete a range of new processes  in order to ship from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.  Delays due to border checks cause disruption of supply chains of goods moving from the UK to Northern Ireland. Many British firms have decided the market is too small to continue supplying Northern Ireland and that the increased costs, as well as red tape, are simply not worth the bother.

However, the Northern Ireland Protocol is not yet fully operational, as there has been a grace period for certain certifications and declarations, which lapses in the months ahead. The grace period for checks on parcels and some supermarket goods ended on 31st March, revealing the problems.  Conservative minister Michael Gove has asked the European Commission to extend the grace period until January 2023 in order to find resolutions to these difficulties.

The UK Internal Market Bill would have safeguarded trade with Northern Ireland by scrapping parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol and this was favourably greeted by Democratic Unionist Party MPs.  Unfortunately the EU absolutely refused to allow the Conservative Government to push the Bill through Parliament unless those clauses were dropped, saying it was a breach of 'international law', when in fact it would have protected N.I. from many of the crippling restrictions it is now facing.

Currently the Republic of Ireland in the South of Ireland is under the EU empire and it seems as though by holding on to Northern Ireland, the plan all along was to keep them both under the EU stranglehold in the hope of a United Ireland, fully under its grip.

Why Boris Johnson and Conservative Ministers did not see this coming, is extraordinary, as it was plain to many people when the Northern Ireland Protocol was first drafted, this might be the likely outcome in the fullness of time. Few have mentioned this dangerous possibility, which would of course mean that the EU had in fact taken British land as a payment for Brexit.

However, a poll in February showed that nearly 60% of Northern Irish people would prefer to stay in the UK.

Currently the people of Northern Ireland are so incensed about the way they have been sold out to the EU by the British Government, that violent nightly riots have been going on all over Northern Ireland since 29th March. As many as 90 police officers have been injured and petrol bombs, masonry and missiles have been thrown, mainly by teenagers.  The violence is the worst seen in many years.

The EU and British Government say they are currently looking into solutions to the problems of trade between Britain and Northern Ireland but knowing the history of Brexit, this may just be weasel words.  It is far more likely that behind the scenes there is a genuine plan to unite the whole of Ireland under the EU flag and for some reason the British Government is not stopping this from becoming a reality.

Did Brexit Britain Bend the Knee to Brussels?

by Louise Mclean

Boris Johnson unveiled the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement on 26th December 2020, which was signed on 30th December 2020, along with a new Bill called the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020, which was rushed through Parliament on that day and almost unanimously passed by 521 to 73 votes.

Finally, we then formally left the European Union on 31st December 2020 but quite honestly, it is a rather hollow victory, as although on the face of it we got back our sovereignty, we won little of what we voted for in 2016 and are still joined at the hip in many ways.

There a number of aspects of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (T&CA) which are unsatisfactory, such as fishing, Northern Ireland's status, the possible effect on trade deals with other countries, our services industry, taxation, funding the EU Defence Force, paying EU pensions until 2064, aspects of the European Arrest Warrant, the 19 new committees and four working groups, as well as still being part of the European Human Rights regime!

According to fishing experts, we have hardly regained any of our territorial waters or fish than we had previously. The deal on fishing will be phased in over five and a half years, with the EU fishermen allowed to continue fishing as before. During that time Britain will be allowed to catch twenty five per cent more fish. 

In 2026 the quotas and rights to fish of EU fishermen will be renegotiated on an annual basis. If Britain wants to drop this agreement on fisheries, the EU would be able to slap tariffs on our fish and seafood exports. The new deal means we are deprived of new fishing stocks even after 2026 because we have agreed these will be shared and quotas will need to be updated on a multiannual basis. This deal hardly gives us back control of our 200 miles of territorial waters but at least we have left the EU Common Fisheries Policy.

Northern Ireland remains in the EU Single Market and Customs Union and is still bound by European Court of Justice legislation, as the TC&A did nothing to change the Northern Ireland Protocol.  Instead of having a border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, which would be logical, it is now between NI and Britain. Apparently since the beginning of January, there have already been many problems with trade from Britain to Northern Ireland, despite Michael Gove and Boris Johnson assuring us otherwise.  Unfortunately the clauses in the Internal Market Bill, which would have safeguarded Northern Ireland, were dropped at the insistence of Brussels.

Many UK firms exporting to Northern Ireland are experiencing difficulties due to excessive paperwork and some are deciding not to bother.  Products in lorries need customs declaration forms, some of which take 15-20 minutes to fill out, each different product needing a form.  At the moment it looks like UK firms are not keen to invest in Northern Ireland.  If reforms are not made, this and other complications, will have a crippling effect on businesses in NI. In this video, ex Brexit Party MEP Mr. Ben Habib, explains it well. 

We have yet to find out whether this new trade bill will affect the sixty plus trade deals signed across the world because there are EU 'level playing field' provisions tied into the deal and in some cases the EU refuses to recognise Britain's regulatory systems as 'equivalent'.  The EU may view our new trade deals with other countries as 'unfair competition' on their doorstep!

Britain's economy is predominantly (80%) a services economy.  Very little is mentioned in the trade deal regarding this, except that we must not give other countries superior advantages over those we give the EU. Financial services in particular could be hit. Read the latest here, as it does not look good.

In addition, we are restricted from setting our own taxation system, which may undercut the EU, and give us any unfair advantage.  

Deep in the new Agreement are plans for UK taxpayers to help fund the European Union's new EU Defence Force! Buried in the text of the Trade & Cooperation Agreement is a reference to Horizon Europe, with the cost to us over the next seven years as being 3.8 billion euros.

It has also been revealed that Theresa May agreed that Britain will be paying for EU pensions until 2064 to the tune of approximately10 billion euros, thanks to the fact that we are still bound by her Withdrawal Agreement signed in January 2020.

The EU/UK trade deal keeps us tied to many terms of the European Arrest Warrant, thereby subjugating us to the European Court of Justice in any dispute.

Another worrying aspect of the TC&A is there will be 19 new committees and four new working groups, where laws can be modified or adjusted and these could end up bringing us back into the EU by the back door, if not carefully monitored.

Also as we are still signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, it makes it difficult to stop illegal migrants from crossing the Channel in small dinghies and these people have been continuing to arrive since 1st January 2021. Britain has signed up to 'give effect to the rights and freedoms of the ECHR' and if we are seen to violate this, the whole trade deal could be terminated. No doubt human rights lawyers will still be very busy!

However, at least there is one clause in the T&CA which says we can terminate it on 12 months' notice!

Below is a summary of the 'Star Chamber' of the European Research Group (ERG) of Parliament, written by their top lawyer MPs and Martin Howe QC.  They conclude that we have in fact regained our sovereignty, however it will take many years to unpick all the EU law transposed into UK law, which still remains on the statute books.

https://lawyersforbritain.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ERG-Legal-Advisory-Committee-Opinion-on-EU-UK-Trade-and-Cooperation-Agreement.pdf

It seems the EU is fairly happy with the EU/UK Trade & Cooperation Agreement and it has until its March plenary session to ratify it, yet our Parliament had only one day to debate and vote for the corresponding European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020!  The fact that Brussels is pleased with this new trade deal, tells you why it is rather a rotten deal for Britain!

Boris WTO - Is this the Real Deal?

by Louise Mclean

On Friday 16th October, after Boris Johnson waited to see the outcome of discussions on Brexit at an EU Summit, he made a statement in Downing Street saying we would be leaving the transition period at the end of the year trading with the EU on WTO terms, or as he put it 'Australian' rules. Boris said all the UK had ever asked for was a Canadian style trade deal but it seems the EU was not prepared to grant one.

Leaving on WTO rules is admirable and something a very large percentage of British people have wanted for a long time.

The Government was so final about this decision that on Friday, Lord David Frost, chief UK negotiator, even warned Michel Barnier not to bother to come back this week for further talks.  However, I see Barnier and Frost are talking again today after yet another final ultimatum from us!

Michael Gove is also talking to an EU official today, even though he stated that we would 'leave the door ajar' for future talks, if the EU changes its stance and backs down on its demands.

This does not sound very final, nor very decisive.  It is unlikely the EU will back down on its call for us to continue to be bound by EU laws, to be adjudicated by the European Court of Justice, to bring our state aid rules in line with theirs and to give them access to our fishing waters.

These are very tough commands for a country that wants to break free from the European Union and make its own laws!

  

The fact that the EU is so desperate to continue the talks, shows that they, not us, will be the real losers if they don't get a deal.  They trade far more with us, than we do with them.  They sell us over £100 billion more than we sell them and worried business leaders in top EU states, such as Germany and France, have been begging the EU to do a good trade deal with us.

Despite the fact that the EU needs a deal more than we do, as we can soon trade with countries around the world, the EU still pretends it holds the real power. In a tweet on Friday 16th October, Donald Tusk said: 

Dear @BorisJohnson, we all know that you like playing tug of war. But remember, if you play for too long, you can take a nasty fall. And all the others will pay the price.   

This sounds rather threatening and could have other meaning!

Emmanuel Macron is very concerned about his French fishermen, as there has also been talk of the possibility of the EU offering French waters to European fishermen if we are not prepared to budge on fishing.

Macron has repeatedly said that the UK will be worse off if we go for No Deal or WTO trade.  Of course this is not true, as the UK only has 8% of its businesses trading with the EU.

92% of UK businesses either trade internally or are already trading on WTO rules and have been smoothly doing so for a long time.  In fact one caller on LBC about a year ago said her company trades with both the EU and on WTO.  She said the paperwork was much easier for WTO!

However, even if we do completely walk out of the trade talks and go for WTO instead, there is still the huge problem of much of the Withdrawal Agreement, which still makes it impossible to have a clean break.  This was unfortunately signed into law to become effective on 31st January 2020, making it difficult to release us.  If it had been signed before 19th December, Boris could have used the excuse that Parliament cannot bind its successors, i.e. there was a new Parliament after the election.

The EU is still making a big fuss about the Internal Market Bill, which would facilitate smooth trade between all the countries of Britain and it is even trying to take legal action because it breaches the Withdrawal Agreement.  Although the Bill got through the House of Commons at the end of September, the House of Lords wants to vote it down. Certainly not a House full of patriots!

Of course the EU don't want us to leave at all and Theresa May saw to it that the WA factored in the possibility of us rejoining in the years ahead.  It is a disastrous Agreement, full of traps and should be torn up.

If we had someone like Margaret Thatcher negotiating for us, we would never still be in this position 4 years, 4 months after the Referendum!  It seems our politicians have made a real mess of getting us out but trading on WTO would be a start, if the WA even allows it!

If we had a Trump, the whole thing would have probably been settled by the end of 2016.  I note that on Donald Tusk's Twitter feed, he has a picture of himself with Joe Biden, saying trade would be good between USA and EU if Biden wins the election on 3rd November.  However Biden's family is currently under investigation for crimes committed, which may possibly make him ineligible to stand for election!

It seems that our fully leaving the transition period on 31st December, even if we trade on WTO rules, would mean we would still have to alter or completely ditch the Withdrawal Agreement in order to be completely free. Somehow I cannot see Boris Johnson doing that!