Letter to the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party MSPs & MPs on the Northern Ireland Protocol
Dear Sir / Madam
I would be grateful if you could answer three simple questions on the Northern Ireland protocol for the “A Whole UK Brexit” blog. I have included further questions if you have time to answer
The Northern Ireland protocol is demonstrably causing societal & economic issues in Northern Ireland including trade diversion & the unavailability of some medicines. Many more such issues will materialise upon the end of the various grace periods such as the ban on chilled meats from the rest of the UK entering Northern Ireland, products requiring EU labelling, customs forms for Amazon & Ebay orders.
1. Do you support replacing the Northern Ireland protocol in order to protect the Union & UK internal market?
2. Do you believe the Protocol threatens or weakens the Union including aiding Scottish Independence arguments?
3. What would you change in the Protocol?
4. Do you agree that if we can & do conduct checks on milk tankers & sheep crossing the NI-ROI border (at the points of origin & destinations) without a physical frontier then why can’t we do the same for sausages, cheese & flatscreen TV’s?
5. Are you aware the EU also has various pre clearance schemes around the world for regulatory checks & reducing agri-food SPS checks similar to how US customs & immigration run pre clearance in Dublin Airport. Instead of the protocol checking goods moving within the UK internal market should we not be using NI ports as a pre clearance point for goods destined for the Republic of Ireland/EU whilst goods remaining in Northern Ireland /UK internal market are free to circulate?
6. Lord Frost recently highlighted that the EU have introduced 800 regulations that Northern Ireland must now comply with. Do you have any concerns on the democratic deficit of the Protocol? Neither Westminster or the Northern Ireland Assembly had sight of these regulations nor debated any of them.
7. Anything else you would like to add?
We currently have a situation where Northern Ireland farmers can’t bring home sheep they bought in Scotland last September due to EU rules.
A situation where Scottish farmers can no longer sell seed potatoes to Northern Ireland. And where the likes of Alba Trees recently turned down an order of 70,000 oaks trees because they can’t ship them to Northern Ireland due to an EU ban.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously said “We would be damaging the fabric of the Union with regulatory checks and even customs controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland…. Now I have to tell you no British Conservative government could or should sign up to any such arrangement.”
Ruth Davidson and David Mundell threatened to resign over the issue.
Their letter to the prime minister in October 2018 said the integrity of the UK was a blood red line. This letter was welcomed by Scottish Conservative MP Ross Thompson writing in the Belfast News Letter at the time (‘Scottish unionists cannot accept an Irish Sea border or let Brexit divide our nation, says Tory MP,’ November 9 2018).
The letter to the prime minister read: “Having fought just four years ago to keep our country together, the integrity of our United Kingdom remains the single most important issue for us in these negotiations…
“Any deal that delivers a differentiated settlement for Northern Ireland beyond the differences that already exist on all Ireland basis (eg Agriculture), or can be brought under the provisions of the Belfast Agreement, would undermine the integrity of our UK internal market and this United Kingdom.”
The letter added: “We could not support any deal that creates a border of any kind in the Irish Sea and undermines the Union or leads to Northern Ireland having a different relationship with the EU than the rest of the UK, beyond what currently exists.”
Recently the High Court in Belfast had ruled the three Withdrawal Agreement had impliedly repealed parts of the Act of Union despite the Prime Minister giving assurances in the Commons the week before that it did not contravene the Act of Union.
Can you confirm your current position & the position of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party on the Northern Ireland protocol an internal UK trade border that breaks the Act of Union and contravenes the cross community mechanisms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Regards,
Alan Day
A Whole UK Brexit (launching soon)
https://medium.com/a-whole-uk-brexit
Cookstown, County Tyrone
Northern Ireland
(formerly of Gelston, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway)
