CapX, 20 September, Sammy Wilson MP
Despite the Prime Minister’s boast that he has resolved the problems caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol with his Windsor Framework, the reality is that trade between Great Britain and the province is still disrupted, new EU laws are being imposed on NI on a weekly basis, and only this week EU Vice President Maroš Šefčovič marched into Belfast to announce how £1bn of EU money would be spent. There could be no starker reminder that NI is still an EU vassal state.
Hopes that power sharing would be restored have also not been realised because the Good Friday Agreement requires that the operation of the Assembly must have the support of both unionists and nationalists. This cannot be met while unionists would be required by law to implement the Windsor Framework if they were to take up ministerial office.
In order to maintain the integrity of the UK, restore political institutions in NI and resolve the outstanding issues which have prevented Brexit being completed, it is important the defective and unworkable Windsor Framework is replaced. For those who are concerned about the determination of Remainers to undo Brexit, resolving the EU influence in NI should be a priority. At an early stage, EU negotiators decided that they would use NI as a way of keeping their foot in the door and constraining the UK government’s ability to free itself from EU influence. Theresa May and Boris Johnson fell into their trap and accepted the EU argument that only by keeping NI within the EU sphere of influence could a hard border be avoided on the island of Ireland.
The result was changes having to be made in the Act of Union, border posts erected within the UK, foreign laws being applied to a part of the UK and NI being subject to rule by the ECJ. EU politicians and negotiators frequently argue that most of these issues would be resolved if only the UK would align itself with EU regulations – especially those pertaining to animals, foodstuffs and medicines. Of course, should a UK government go down that road, arguments would be made for further alignment and it would not be too long before we would find the UK chained once again to the EU, and Brexit undone.
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