Boris Johnson has said there "is an issue" with the Northern Ireland protocol.

The success of the Northern Ireland protocol and the opportunities it presents underscore the failures of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

A thread.
The PM said we "can't go on" with it affecting "real people, real lives, real businesses"

NI businesses have been largely able to bypass many of the barriers faced in Britain. It has remained untouched by the closures of numerous food chains, the CO2 crisis & the food shortages.
North-South trade has risen sharply, with the value of goods being imported from NI increasing by 77%; while the value of exports to the North is up by 43%. These benefits have developed in tandem with a surge in investment in the North.
County Down-based sandwich firm Deli-lites is just one in a line of independently owned NI companies to secure substantial deals and lucrative opportunities replacing Britain-based suppliers after landing an agreement with supermarket giant Asda.
Northern Ireland firm Dale Farm won a significant contract to supply ingredients to Arla, a major European dairy company in June. Atteibuted to NI's unique dual market access. Invest NI is reporting over 30 FDI's and companies such as asos and amazon are opening NI hubs.
A recent survey from manufacturing NI shows an overwhelming majority of manufacturers favour the perpetuation of the protocol, with prescribed derogations and mitigations, while only 18 per cent prefer it be scrapped.
And while the PM is busy playing to a domestic audience, internally, the government is citing the benefits of the protocol.
The ‘Why UK?’ document describes Northern Ireland as “the only place in the world where businesses can operate free from customs declarations, rules of origin certificates and non-tariff barriers on the sale of goods to both the UK and EU”.
Removing the protocol and exposing Northern Ireland to the same failures as the rest of the UK instead of utilising the economic opportunities it presents for the betterment of all in the North is a prime example of placing identity politics above the people.
Lost in the furore of unionism uniting against the protocol is this simple fact – unionism is no longer a majority in Northern Ireland.

And much of the rhetoric is merely electioneering.

The majority of elected representatives support the protocol.
The PM stated that the "causes, not symptoms" need to be changed. The cause is Brexit, something Northern Ireland didn't vote for in the first place. Most accept that the protocol is the best of a bad situation and that it could provide NI with a significant economic boom.

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More from @EmmandJDeSouza

28 Sep
That unionist leaders want Northern Ireland and its people to suffer the same negative consequences of Brexit as the rest of the UK is a prime example of putting politics before people. As John Hume said, "You can't eat a flag"
The Northern Ireland protocol has protected NI from some of the major shortages such as fuel and CO2 - it also kept our nandos and McDonald's open and stocked.

More importantly it has seen NI businesses secure lucrative deals aswell as a huge rise in investment demand.
Down-based sandwich firm Deli-lites is just one in a line of independently owned NI companies to secure substantial deals replacing Britain-based suppliers after landing an agreement with Asda

Dale Farm landed a huge deal to supply ingredients to a major European dairy company
Read 5 tweets
28 Sep
Language in this place may still be misinterpreted as an indication of one’s political beliefs - an oftentimes subconscious practice for most, while other times a strategic choice deliberately weaponised by those stuck firmly in the past.
One prime example of the latter was evidenced in the NI Affairs Committee recently when MP Gregory Campbell made a snide remark towards author Susan McKay pertaining to her use of the title of “Derry” rather than his own preferred nomenclature: “Londonderry”.
I was recently told to stop using the term “Northern Ireland” unless I “support partition.” This egocentric motivation to project one’s own personal connotations onto the verbiage of others completely ignores subjectivity in the misguided pursuit of political correctness.
Read 6 tweets
26 Jul
A #thread on how unionism is a minority in Northern Ireland, despite what Arlene Foster purports.

Unionism lost its majority in Stormont for the first time since the creation of NI in 2017.

Followed by losing its majority in Westminster in 2019.
In 2017 the DUP received 225,413 votes, UUP 103,314 and the TUV 20,523, a combined figure of 348,98 out of a electorate of 1.33 million.

That's nowhere near a majority.
A similar figure voted to leave the European Union, 349,442.

The majority in Northern Ireland, 440,707, voted to remain in the EU.

Brexit is not supported by the majority in Northern Ireland.
Read 6 tweets
2 Apr
"We had 700 days of failure and one day of success"

#Thread of quotes from those involved in getting the Good Friday Agreement across the line.
"People working together can overcome many obstacles, often within themselves, and by doing so can make the world a better place."

- Mo mowlam
"Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity."

- John Hume
Read 10 tweets
17 Sep 20
The British govt are trying to claim that they are breaking intl law to "protect the peace process" (it's really about sovereignty & English nationalism)

Here's a #Thread on our case in which the British Home Office argued the govt couldn't be held to the spirit of the GFA 1/
In 2015 I married my US husband and applied for his residence card as the spouse of an Irish national. Our application was refused by the British Home Office who stated that I was a British citizen by birth, despite the fact that I am an Irish citizen 2/ irishtimes.com/news/social-af…
This is when we discovered that this provision of the Good Friday Agreement, that requires both the Irish and British governments to accept a person of NI as "Irish or British or both", " as they may so choose" was never put into domestic UK law.

It was in Ireland 3/
Read 16 tweets
9 Sep 20
Matt Hancock: We're trying to protect the Good Friday Agreement

British government (in court documents): It's our view that an international agreement such as the Good Friday Agreement cannot supersede domestic UK law & that the Government can't be held to the spirit of the GFA
Read 5 tweets

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