“Sunak’s deal - the triumph of spin over substance”

An analysis by TUV leader Jim Allister KC MLA for Facts4EU.Org

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

A guest article outlining the fundamentals of Mr Sunak’s ‘Windsor Framework’

Below we present the thoughts of a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland: Jim Allister, Leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party. In his article he writes about Rishi Sunak’s ‘Windsor Framework’ and argues it is not a solution to the major problems created by the EU’s NI Protocol.

The TUV currently has no MPs in Westminster and so can get overlooked by the GB media. Nevertheless Mr Allister is a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA), as well as being a barrister and King’s Counsel. The TUV is a minority party in Northern Ireland, staunchly eurosceptic, and to the right of centre.

‘Sunak’s deal - the triumph of spin over substance’
By Jim Allister KC MLA, 01 March 2023

It is clear the substance of Monday’s deal does not live up to the overselling spin which accompanied it.

The realities are these:-

Northern Ireland, a proclaimed part of the United Kingdom, remains wholly within a foreign Single Market for goods subject to the vast plethora of EU laws that control it and all that overseen by a foreign court, the ECJ.

It’s the (EU) law

In its own commentary on the deal the EU was emphatic. The ECJ remains “the sole and ultimate arbiter of EU law.” So, the hundreds of EU laws applied to NI by Art 5(4) and Annex 2 of the Protocol remain and none of them are subject to local control or variation. The much vaunted ‘Stormont Brake’ has no application to these existing imposed laws. NI continues as a colonial rule taker subject to the supremacy of a foreign court.

Trapped in the EU’s Single Market

Being trapped in perpetuity in the EU’s Single Market for goods, while GB’s market rules can and will diverge, increasing detachment from the U.K. and increasing attachment to the Republic of Ireland, is inevitable. Hence, for any Unionist the folly of embracing membership of the EU’s Single Market. It is not a matter of economic advantage but of constitutional detriment.

Under the EU’s Customs Code

Northern Ireland remains wholly within the orbit and control of the EU’s Customs Code. The effect is that EU territory starts at our sea border where the border customs infrastructure will be strengthened and food goods coming from GB for NI consumption only can still be checked. The EU has boasted, “There is no dual regulatory regime. While UK public health standards will apply to goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, EU requirements for animal health and plant health remain fully in place..”

Even for goods staying in Northern Ireland there will still be customs paperwork with 21 data elements normally required for a standard customs declaration, as required by the EU Customs Code to mark the passage from external territory to EU territory. And the load manifest of every lorry must be declared to a foreign power, the EU! So much for the promised ‘equal footing‘ of Article 6 of the Acts of Union.

Belfast border control post, Duncrue St, credit: Whiteabbey

Moreover, to transfer goods to NI they must come via a ‘trusted trader’. The very fact you must be in a trusted trader scheme to trade within your own country is both obnoxious and confirmation in itself - together with the above identified impositions - that Art 6 of the Acts of Union remains in suspension.

The Irish Sea border will continue to exist in practical terms

So, clearly, despite the PM’s contrary assertion, there will still be a customs border in the Irish Sea setting Northern Ireland apart in an all-Ireland/EU orbit.

Costly labelling requirements for all goods coming into Northern Ireland, will add expense and disincentives for GB suppliers.

The EU will continue to set VAT on alcohol in supermarkets

The boasted reform allowing UK excise changes on alcohol, of course, applies only to hospitality sales and not to off sales or supermarkets where EU laws take precedence.

The EU has decreed, “The UK will not be able to apply any duty rate below the EU minima.” And, its published commentary says: “Each solution in the areas of VAT and excise come with conditions and safeguards …. Furthermore, the solutions cannot negatively affect the EU Single Market…”

The ‘Stormont Brake’

The PM has sought to make much of the so called ‘Stormont Brake’. It applies only to future changes in applicable EU law, does not provide a veto to MLAs but only to the UK government if a high threshold is said by them to be met.

This caused one commentator to remark : “Far from unionists having their foot on the brake, they would be in the back seat with permission to ask the driver to brake.”

On sovereignty, the ‘Windsor Framework’ is nowhere near what is needed

So, all in all, for anyone whose compass is set by sovereignty considerations and whose goal is the strengthening, not weakening, of the Union with GB, this is a deal which falls far short. The EU graciously allowing us to transport our pets comes nowhere close to the UK recovering sovereignty over this part of the United Kingdom.

As for it being enough to cause Unionists to give up its Stormont leverage and settle for this deal, which comes with the added packaging of a Sinn Fein First Minister, then, no thanks!

- Jim Allister KC MLA, 01 Mar 2023

Observations

As the detailed assessments of the PM's latest deal with the EU start coming in, none so far have been positive. Overnight we received one from the former Attorney General of Northern Ireland, which concludes that the DUP's 'seven tests' have not been met.

The spin has been very effective so far but as the realities begin to be assessed we suspect the gloss will start to come off this proposed deal.

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[ Sources: Jim Allister KC MLA ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 02 Mar 2023

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Reader Comments 20

1. Sparky , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 07:34:

I appreciate that as the source is a paper from the AFCO Committee of the European Parliament is not ideal but the conclusion written in 2017 provides a good summary re Northern Ireland.
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"With the UK government leaving the EU customs union and the single market, a hardening of the Irish border becomes inevitable. This will not only affect movement on the island, but symbolically and psychologically represent for many a reversal of the peace process and failure of the Good Friday Agreement"
"UK withdrawal from the EU means that the trajectories of the UK and Ireland will now diverge. The divergence will be wide-ranging and will happen in law, trade, security, rights, politics; all areas that reach to the very core of the Agreement. Brexit therefore puts the Good Friday Agreement at risk of deep fissures"
.
The NIP and now the Windsor Framework does effectively share sovereignty of NI between UK and GB. NI should have been considered more in Brexit but this was likely to be the inevitable compromise the "Get Brexit Done" whilst not threatening peace in NI.
UK Govt should get on with Windsor Framework with or without the DUP and let the Uk move on.

2. Gazzablack , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 07:47:

You cannot share sovereignty.
There should be no place for the ECJ in NI.
I'd go as far as to say, there should be no place for the ECJ in the EU, because it is a political construct, rather than a judicial one.
.
It is the NIP that puts the GFA at risk.

3. Have You Wondered , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 08:20:

.
2. Gazzablack.
.
"I'd go as far as to say, there should be no place for the ECJ in the EU......."
.
Indeed, Gazzablack makes a very good point.
.
Do you trust the ECJ to be unbiased and honourable?
.
Consider:
.
The ECJ ruled in a judgement 25th September 2018 that MEP's did not have to account for their €4k a month expenses! (Now €4,778 per month to keep the MEP's subservient?) The cash is officially meant for expenses, but MEPs will no longer need to provide evidence or keep receipts."
Search: transparency eu ecj rules against mep expenses transparency
.
How on earth can that be an independent/fair/just & most of all an un-coerced decision?
All the rest in the real world have problem claiming a cup of tea without a chit in triplicate!?
If they want to hide that issue - what larger scams would they hide? Then Read on:
.
That ECJ ruling then enabled :
.
Those very same unaccountable expenses are then being invested into the MEP's pension funds that are very 'un-eco' or into Arms manufacture.
Needless to say - the EU won't talk about it - surprise - surprise!
.
"MEP pension fund invested in oil giants behind eco-disasters"
Search: euobserver com green economy 156605
.
"Aside from the ethical questions of using European taxpayer money to invest in the arms industry to finance an MEP pension fund...!
Search: euobserver. com rule of law 156578
.
How many other unethical scams have been enabled by this ECJ judgment ?
.
Here's the icing on the cake :
.
MEP's pension fund - "which then needs bailing out to the tune of €400m from the public. " !!!
Search: euobserver com rule of law 156578
.
That's some European Court of Justice - would you trust them to be unbiased and honourable?
.
Do you recommend being ruled over by them?
.
Why does the UK (or any other nation) need another level of corruption, ineptitude and malfeasance above that which the UK has already?
.

4. Carlo Guli , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 08:22:

The EU position is untenable. Are they trying to say that EU law needs applying to any non-EU nation that happens to share borders with a EU nation?
Only a remainer can possibly agree to such nonsense; apparently Sunak belongs to that group of fantasists regardless of his protestations to the contrary.
Support for the "Windsor" framework can only be predicated on the false assumption that just because a minority in NI wishes to retain their links to the EU, the majority has to make concessions and retain some EU laws; that just because a minority would like to unite with the Republic, a compronise must be negotiated.
This is clearly nonsense, incredibly unfair, and it's not how democracies work. This is a position that favours one side only and it's meant to make Unification the inevitable end of the political journey. If at any point in time we were to have an Irish nationalist majority, however minimal, the process would stop, and concessions to the UK unionists would not even be considered.
In reality we owe no concessions to the Irish nationalists, and we do not need to compromise on UK sovereignty or accept not even an article of EU law, so long as a majority of people in NI wishes to remain part of the UK.
Should they vote to join the ROI, then EU law would apply to NI, but only until they decide to rejoin the UK of course, and this possibility must be made absolutely clear in any referendum.
There are no one way roads in politics, as the incessant campaign to rejoin the EU abundantly exemplifies. However, a sensible political process must allow for a constitutional change to work for a long enough time as to settle the dust and prove the merits of any political choice.
The rejoiners got even this aspect wrong, as they never allowed the Brexit democratic process to settle. Their petulance, when not outright obstructionism, keeps causing enormous damage to the UK political consensus mechanism which is at the foundations of any democratic system.

5. RW52 , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 08:52:

This shows us what a shower of liars we have as OUR ministers. How can so called political parties vote for something they have not yet read......we are in serious trouble with these people in charge !!!

6. LuxuryBalloon , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 09:27:

I suppose the question is if the TUV wants NI to continue to be part of the single market for goods. Maybe the TUV seems less fussed about that. And then the question is if the TUV represents a significant group within NI?

7. KB , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 12:52:

The big problem with this is, the NIP is now set in stone. It should only be temporary.
We should have said, we'll agree to this border in the Irish Sea for the next (say) five years. That is to allow time for the development of the NI/ROI electronic border for goods. After that time we will remove the Irish Sea border and you (the EU) can do what you like with the land border. However we hope the electronic border will be up and running by then.
That is what we should have said, but now we are stuck with this situation for the foreseeable future.

8. Jon, Wales , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 14:37:

In my considered opinion, Prime Minister Sunak is attempting to pull off a huge scam with the so-called 'Windsor agreement', which was concluded in secret, aided and abetted by the secretive and unaccountable EU commission, despite the largest ever democratic exercise in British history in 2016 to exit as one country.
Mr Sell Out Sunak failed to discuss these matters prior to agreement - for example, a Bill may be presented before parliament, to then journey through both Houses before receiving Royal Assent. All Bills would be put through 100% scrutiny line by line and word for word. THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED THUS FAR?
I reached the conclusion that PM Sunak is a pretend Brexiteer, mainly because we know him as a globalist who appears influenced by outside actors.
Sunak is not standing up to protect United Kingdom territorial integrity unless he indicates otherwise?
Together with the unaccountable EU commission, he appears to be USING Northern Ireland by giving in to a hostile commission, instead of telling them where to get off.
It may help if US President Biden STOPPED Interfering in UK domestic politics to concentrate fixing his own country for US citizens. Biden forever whinges about interference, so I suggest he takes his own advice.
I would be interested to know if any UK Prime Minister actually has the 'gift' to hive off a valued part of the United Kingdom?
Think about it for a milli-second, IF Churchill handed our country to a then hostile Germany, the UK wouldn't now exist.
We were the first country to go to the aid of France in those dark times, but I don't see France returning the favour by stopping illegal channel crossings in small boats.
If Sunak intends to ignore our hard fought freedoms then he should clearly state as much?
As a proud country, the UK does not require permissions from the EU commission, we're entirely capable of handling our own matters.
I STAND WITH AND SUPPORT NORTHERN IRELAND, A VALUED PART OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

9. Sparky , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 15:33:

As the people effected by the proposed Windsor Framework let them decide. Hold a people’s vote in Northern Ireland.

10. Mike S , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 16:38:

9, Sparky, yes, let the relevant people decide but, as has been proven in the UK in recent & fairly recent times, if what the people decide doesn't match what the government elite & big business/MSM want, they'll do their utmost to deny the taxpaying electorate what they ultimately choose. The UK electorate knows about that, all to well!!

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