The forever war...
“The forever war” is one of my favourite science fiction novels, I really recommend it. But here we are once again talking about the Northern Ireland Protocol. When I wrote yesterday about the self declared victory in the “sausage wars” not being the end of the matter, I little realised it would be on the front pages the very next day.
Now Lord Frost is demanding the end of any role for the European Court of Justice in the NIP. This tells us several things:
Sausages were a side issue and just an excuse for picking a fight.
The government has no intention of ever implementing the NIP
It agreed the role of the ECJ at the end of last year and it has not had a chance to pass judgement on anything, so this too is just picking a fight.
Unlike sausages the EU cannot and will not compromise on this.
Hopefully the UK government thinks this is a hard negotiating tactic that will bring even more concessions. It is wrong but I somehow doubt even this is its policy. The government wants a permanent state of warfare with the EU, so it has someone to blame and hate.
Look at the timing. Just as the EU comes up with a work around for food trade, Lord Frost’s next impossible demand is leaked. A more blatant attempt wreck any possibility of a deal it is hard to imagine.
What the government thinks will happen if it destroys the NIP and therefore the TCA, it is hard to imagine. But the supply problems of the UK economy should have set the alarm bells ringing.
That they haven’t is the most deeply worrying aspect of this whole affair.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.