Thread by @pmdfoster

🚨🇬🇧🇪🇺NEW: Revealed: the ⁦@duponline⁩ private lobbyied U.K. last year for ‘Swiss-style’ EU trade alignment - my latest for ⁦@FinancialTimes⁩ with ⁦@ArthurBeesley⁩ /1 on.ft.com/3buK6Zd

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley There has been a lot of discussion recently over whether the UK seeking adopting a "Swiss-style" approach - aligning with cumbersome EU rules on plant/animal health that are causing so much exporting headache - would fix Irish Protocol issues /2

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley Last week @MatthewOToole2
asked Diane Dodds about it but got the brush because it would result in UK "slavishly" following EU rules - tho it was later clarified as being politically unrealistic rather than ideologically unacceptable /3

https://twitter.com/MatthewOToole2/status/1361698545888333825?s=20

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 But now it turns - per a letter from Edwin Poots to @MPGeorgeEustice last June - that the DUP was lobbying hard for a Swiss-style approach, but this (as we know) was rejected by @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson and the UK government who wanted full powers to diverge/4

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson In his June 23 letter Poots listed his "asks" to make the Protocol bearable, including SPS alignment. “This could be achieved, for example, by dynamic alignment with relevant parts of the EU acquis and the UK joining the common veterinary area (as in the Swiss/EU arrangement)” /5

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson He also absolutely correctly predicted the problems over export health certificates and so-called "groupage" (mixed loads of goods on lorries) and asked for easements to help with this too. These didn't come either. /6

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson He warned the asks "must be met" to make the Protocol work:“We are always prepared to play a full role in making this work and it is my hope and expectation that UKG [UK government] will take a similar approach in working with us,” he wrote. /7

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson It's a very different tone now - indeed very different tone from December/January when Arlene Foster was talking about looking to “maximise the opportunities the new arrangements provide” - but now the party is looking to junk the Protocol /8

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson For now the UK Government is still on the path of seeking "workable solutions" and has the backing of business groups who are also supporting demands for easements/grace period extensions to make the Protocol function /9

ft.com/content/72999c…

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson This week (Wednesday) following meetings with biz groups @MarosSefcovic and @michaelgove will hold a meeting of the Joint Committee to see what can be agreed to keep the show on the road as the deadline approaches for full checks after April 1 (expect that to be fudged) /10

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson @MarosSefcovic @michaelgove But as @DavidGHFrost takes over and his more confrontational style takes hold, it remains very unclear where the politics leads - Frost after all devised and backed the law-breaking strategy of last year that has helped to poison the well still further. /11

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson @MarosSefcovic @michaelgove And the Commission's disastrous mistake on Article 16 hardened the NI Politics now, to the point where the DUP and the ERG/Tory hardliners are united in looking to "address" the Protocol. And frankly their cause is helped by Commission hamfistedness. /12

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson @MarosSefcovic @michaelgove The Commission statement on the implementation of the Article 10 of the protocol (the State Aid clause that cuts across UK policy) is further ammo in this regard for those making the case that the Protocol has to go/13

ec.europa.eu/info/sites/inf…

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson @MarosSefcovic @michaelgove The concept of mutual enforcement as means of arguing that the Protocol poses no threat to the EU single market is back in the field - see this from David Trimble from last week's @IrishTimes /14

irishtimes.com/opinion/david-…

@duponline @FinancialTimes @ArthurBeesley @MatthewOToole2 @MPGeorgeEustice @DavidGHFrost @BorisJohnson @MarosSefcovic @michaelgove @IrishTimes The pressure looks set to continue - but as that Edwin Poots letter rightly identified - the solutions are in implementation that doesn't make massive impacts on NI and its consumers, but delivers the deal. Going to take flexibility from both sides. ENDS