Thread by @jnpowell1

1/7 Every time a Tory minister appears on the media they have a different explanation of why they are breaking international law on the NI protocol. So far I have counted 5. This thread lists them and suggests what the real reason may be.

2/7 Gov: ‘These are specific and limited changes required by the ambiguity of the original agreement’.
No they are not - they potentially undermine the whole point of the backstop.

3/7 Gov: ‘They are to save the Good Friday Agreement’.
On the contrary they undermine the GFA by risking the need to impose a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic to protect the Single Market.

4/7 Johnson: ‘didn’t know it created a customs border between NI and the rest of the UK at the time’.
Oh yes he did - not least because many experts including me were pointing this out.

5/7 Bernard Jenkin: ‘This is a one off treaty because we are leaving an Empire’ so it is ok to breach it.
What planet is he living on?

6/7 Gov: ‘It was all a bit of a rush’.
Yes it was and that is why a majority in Parliament was urging him to slow down. He got caught on TV at the time telling NI businessmen that they wouldn’t need to fill in forms - either he was lying or had not read it.

7/7 The real reason is political. Johnson/Cummings are trying to imitate Trump by changing the subject from the mess they have made of Coronavirus to a fight on Brexit, the only subject they can manage. And in the process they have put NI peace at risk and cratered our reputation