A quick Monday morning run-down of where the UK is on the Northern Ireland Protocol
tl;dr yes it creates problems, but those are ones of the UK's choosing
1/
tl;dr yes it creates problems, but those are ones of the UK's choosing
1/
This weekend's G7 was very much at the worse end of possible outcomes, with much digging into positions and a degree of opportunity cost to UK on the actual agenda of the meeting
2/
https://twitter.com/ReutersUK/status/1402620290241343494?s=20
2/
A lot of the annoyance seems to have come from Macron's remarks on NI being apart from the rest of UK. Johnson's response (above) is true, but misses a key part of the picture - he agreed to NI being apart from the rest of UK
3/
3/
As we know, the UK was not forced to sign the Protocol or the Withdrawal Agt that contains it
Yes, the costs of no-deal were very extensive, but that's something different
ukandeu.ac.uk/research-paper…
4/
Yes, the costs of no-deal were very extensive, but that's something different
ukandeu.ac.uk/research-paper…
4/
Under the norm of pacta sunt servanda, the necessary prior for contracting parties sticking to their commitments is that those parties enter freely into them in the first place
5/
https://twitter.com/Usherwood/status/1306888617542004737?s=20
5/
As a result, Johnson (and Parliament) accepted a differentiated solution to withdrawal, in order to protect other obligations under the Good Friday Agt
6/
6/
To reiterate, this causes problems for the UK, in many ways, but the decision of the govt was that those problems were preferable to those created by another model, or by not concluding a deal at all
It's the relative weight of these options to one another that matters
7/
It's the relative weight of these options to one another that matters
7/
For the EU - and the rest of the G7 it seems - the priority is getting that agreement to work in practice
For UK, it's to minimise the problems, which is something rather different
8/
For UK, it's to minimise the problems, which is something rather different
8/
As this weekend showed, that mismatch is a real problem: without being publicly and demonstrably engaged in implementation of the Protocol, the UK isn't getting any hearing for accommodations
9/
9/
I've summarised this before, but generally speaking, the more you are sincere (or look it) about making things work, the more traction you'll get
10/
https://twitter.com/Usherwood/status/1401815335645466633?s=20
10/
So, unless and until the UK govt starts serious implementation, it'll find all efforts to reduce problems will be dismissed as self-serving and in poor faith, regardless of any intrinsic merit that might exist
11/
11/
And - if it wasn't already clear - the longer this situation exists, the harder it will be to end it
/end
/end
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
