Thread by @SamCoatesSky

Fascinating development

Keir Starmer on @LBC says “having checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is not the way forward”

Appears to be a boost for Boris Johnson, giving him cover from Labour to challenge EU approach to Protocol

I asked a Labour source whether Labour supported the NI protocol when it was agreed in December

They sidestepped the q and said the vote in December was the Free Trade Agreement not the protocol

That’s true about late Dec vote but….

Here is then Labour shadow cabinet office minister Rachel Reeves on Dec 10 backing the Northern Ireland protocol ….

AND

Asking about checks - giving the impression they were aware backing the protocol means backing checks

But now Starmer is walking back from that…?

Keir Starmer’s statement *seems* to suggest no checks are possible on GB to NI transit

There have long been some SPS checks for instance, so that’s undoing the pre Jan 1 position

And appears to go further than Boris Johnson

It raises another interesting q about Labour tactics.

It’s part of a pattern, which Labour figures raise with me, of attacking the opposition then backing the core decision

I wonder whether that’s what we will get later on Covid delay too

Yesterday Shad Cabinet’s Emily Thornberry told Trevor Phillips on Sky that the government should align with EU rules on agriculture. That would remove so-called SPS checks on things like chilled meats. Tho not on all goods.

Perhaps this is what Starmer was reaching for?