Tag Archives: Brexit

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Last night.

Further to British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss’ plans to legislate to override parts of the Brexit withdrawal treaty the UK struck with the EU…

“The Good Friday Accords are the bedrock of peace in Northern Ireland and a beacon of hope for the entire world. Ensuring there remains no physical border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland is absolutely necessary for upholding this landmark agreement, which has transformed Northern Ireland.

“It is deeply concerning that the United Kingdom is now seeking to unilaterally discard the Northern Ireland Protocol. Negotiated agreements like the Protocol preserve the important progress and stability forged by the Good Friday Accords, which continue to enjoy strong bipartisan and bicameral support in the United States Congress.

“As I have stated in my conversations with the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and Members of the House of Commons, if the United Kingdom chooses to undermine the Good Friday Accords, the Congress cannot and will not support a bilateral free trade agreement with the United Kingdom.

“Respectful of the will of the British people and of Brexit, I urge constructive, collaborative and good-faith negotiations to implement an agreement that upholds peace. The children of Northern Ireland, who have never known the bloody conflict and do not want to go back, deserve a future free of the violence where all may reach their fulfillment,”

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Congress.

Pelosi Statement Reaffirming Support of the Northern Ireland Protocol (Nancy Pelosi)

Britain’s moves to unilaterally discard NI Protocol ‘deeply concerning’ – Pelosi

Getty

Meanwhile…

From top: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at Parliament Buildings at Stormont, Belfast, Northern Ireland on January 13, 2020; Texts last night from former Johnson aide Dominic Cummings

This afternoon.

Via ITV News:

Ireland has warned countries around the world not to trust the UK because it is run by a “British government that doesn’t necessarily keep its word”.

Irish deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar urged countries to be careful when dealing with the UK because of the “bad faith” demonstrated in the government’s plans to overhaul a key agreement signed as part of the Brexit deal.

After agreeing to the Northern Ireland Protocol – part of the Brexit arrangement that means checks on some goods and services flowing between Great Britain and NI – the UK has continually sought to change aspects of it.

The EU, and swathes of British MPs, have been unhappy about the UK’s attempts to renege on the agreement, but comments by Boris Johnson’s former top aide Dominic Cummings appear to have caused anger.

‘They don’t keep their word’: Ireland warns world against signing deals with UK after Brexit (ITV)

RollingNews

UK Brexit Minister Lord David Frost

This morning.

Brexit: What is the Northern Ireland Protocol and why are the EU and UK still fighting over sausages? (Sky)

Meanwhile…

Um.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson with US president Joe Biden in The White House last night

“We’re going to talk a little bit about trade today and we’re going to have to work that through.

But on the (Northern Ireland) protocols I feel very strongly on those.

“We spent an enormous amount of time and effort, the United States, it was a major bipartisan effort made.

And I would not at all like to see, nor I might add would many of my Republican colleagues like to see, a change in the Irish accords, the end result having a closed border in Ireland.”

US President Joe Biden

Biden: No change to ‘Irish accords’ that results in ‘closed border’ (RTÉ)

Getty

Ah here.

From top: Jeffrey Donaldson, DUP leader; Taoiseach Micheál Martin welcoming European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic to Government Buildings this morning.

This morning/afternoon.

Via RTÉ

The Democratic Unionist Party leader has signalled his party will collapse the Stormont Executive “within weeks” if changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol are not delivered.

Jeffrey Donaldson also announced the DUP’s immediate withdrawal from north-south political institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement.

The moves are part of an intensification of the party’s campaign of opposition to post-Brexit arrangements.

Mr Donaldson issued the warning on the future of Stormont in a keynote address in Belfast on the same day as European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič began a two-day visit to Northern Ireland.

Ahead of any move to pull ministers out of the coalition administration, a step that would bring down the power-sharing institutions, Mr Donaldson said his party was first seeking to challenge the legality of checks on goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Britain introduced under the protocol, and establish whether their implementation requires the approval of the Stormont Executive.

Stormont could collapse ‘within weeks’ if Northern Ireland Protocol issues not resolved – Donaldson (RTÉ)

RollingNews

Channel 4’s Great British Bake-Off

This afternoon

in an internal EU document seen by the Guardian, British television and film’s dominance in Europe has been described as a threat to the bloc’s  “cultural diversity”.

Via The Guardian:

…Under the EU’s audiovisual media services directive, a majority of airtime must be given to such European content on terrestrial television and it must make up at least 30% of the number of titles on video on demand (VOD) platforms such as Netflix and Amazon.

According to an EU document tabled with diplomats on 8 June, in the “aftermath of Brexit” it is believed the inclusion of UK content in such quotas has led to what has been described as a “disproportionate” amount of British programming on European television.

“The high availability of UK content in video on demand services, as well as the privileges granted by the qualification as European works, can result in a disproportionate presence of UK content with the European video on demand quota and hinder a larger variety of European works (including from smaller countries or less spoken languages),” a paper distributed among the member states reads.

EU prepares to cut amount of British TV and film shown post-Brexit (The Guardian)

DD writes:

Oh no! All those great programmes about baking and snobs between the Wars. This is Fair City’s big chance.

Fight!

Earlier…

Taoiseach Micheál Martin

“There has never been a ban on North-South travel, not will there be.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Fianna Fáil Parliamentary meeting, November 29, 2020

This morning.

From 7am, people who live in Northern Ireland faced fines of €100 from Gardaí if caught crossing the Irish border without “a reasonable excuse”.

Via BBC:

The unprecedented step has been taken by the Irish government in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Northern Ireland residents who have to cross the border for essential work or essential purposes, such as seeking medical treatment, will be exempt from fines.

Public health guidance in NI says people “should not travel in or out of Northern Ireland except where it is essential to do so”.

Coronavirus: NI residents face fines for crossing border (BBC)

RollingNews