He's not the best,
He's just better than the rest.
it's hard to chose a "best bit" of such a withering and comprehensive destruction of the PM's case, but I liked this bit:
"....he claimed on Wednesday it was necessary to Protect the good Friday agreement.
I have to say I would rather trust the authors of the good Friday agreement than a Prime Minister who has prominent members of the government who opposed the agreement.
This is what John Major and Tony Blair wrote “[the bill] puts the good Friday agreement at risk because it negates the predictability, the political stability, and legal clarity that are integral to the delicate balance between the north and south of Ireland that is at the core of the peace process”.
He may not want to believe them but maybe he will believe himself.
Because this is what he said about the NI Protocol: “there are particular circumstances in Northern Ireland at the border that deserve particular respect and sensitivity, and that is what they have received in the deal.
This is… a great deal for Northern Ireland”.
This is not just legislative hooliganism, it is hooliganism on the most sensitive of issues".
....it's all downhill from here.
Tony Blair, John Major, yesterdays men.
I'd rather listen to Wet,Wet,Wet songs all day than listen to them!
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
13/9
Barnier
Protocol on IE/NI is not a threat to the integrity of the UK. We agreed this delicate compromise with
@BorisJohnson
& his gov in order to protect peace & stability on island of Ireland. We could not have been clearer about the consequences of #Brexit
Sticking to facts is also essential. A case in point: Flag of European Union is not refusing to list Flag of United Kingdom as a third country for food imports (SPS). To be listed, we need to know in full what a country’s rules are, incl. for imports. The same objective process applies to all listed countries
Frost (in response)
I would like to make a few comments and state a few facts, in my capacity as the PM's negotiator in the current and last autumn's talks.
On the Protocol, we indeed negotiated a careful balance in order to preserve peace and the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.
It is precisely to ensure this balance can be preserved in all circumstances that the Govt needs powers in reserve to avoid it being disrupted.
On 3rd country listings: the EU knows perfectly well all the details of our food standards rules because we are operating EU rules. The situation on 1.1.21 is accordingly perfectly clear. We have discussed this frequently with the EU including last week.
Any changes in future would be notified to the WTO and EU in the usual way with plenty of lead time. The EU lists dozens of countries globally on precisely this basis, without any sort of commitment about the future.
Yet it has been made clear to us in the current talks that there is no guarantee of listing us. I am afraid it has also been said to us explicitly in these talks that if we are not listed we will not be able to move food to Northern Ireland.
The EU's position is that listing is needed for Great Britain only, not Northern Ireland. So if GB were not listed, it would be automatically illegal for NI to import food products from GB.
I hope the EU will yet think better of this. It obviously makes it no easier to negotiate a good free trade agreement and the solid future relationship which we all want.
Richard Taylor
"William Tell could take an apple off your head. Taylor could take out a processed pea."
Sid Waddell
Neither of them said
"This is… a great deal for Northern Ireland”.