Ben Lowry: Three points to keep in mind when arguing against the NI Protocol
I am technically his seventh, now that Alistair Bushe has sadly moved on (I am acting up). But having been in that role a mere fortnight, I hardly feel equipped to pay tribute to Alex.
So all I will just say is this: We are dismayed he has decided to move on, and you – his army of Monday fans – will be too.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAbove all, I enjoyed Alex’s frontline reminiscences of key moments in unionism, from the worker’s council strike of 1974 to the Anglo Irish Agreement of 1985 to the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
I am delighted Alex has agreed to pen us occasional historical pieces.
In the meantime, we have not yet got a replacement for Alex and this week I am stepping in. But bear with us, we will be rotating the writers in the coming weeks, beginning with Owen Polley next Monday, and we will all endeavour to try to fill Alex’s shoes
• Ben Lowry column for today:
The Northern Ireland Protocol is so complicated that it is clear that few people in the UK government fully understood its implications in 2019.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThis is increasingly apparent from the way in which senior government ministers have clearly become very anxious indeed as to what they agreed in October of that year.
They blame the European Union for inflexibility over the protocol and say that it is not working and that they have, within the text of the protocol, justifications for — at the very least — the UK’s retrospective demand for changes to its operation.
But, while it is true that Boris Johnson agreed to the protocol in October 2019 under duress (caused by the Benn amendment weeks earlier, which in effect hobbled the sort of Brexit that the Tory Party had come to demand), there is no escaping the fact that Britain agreed to the Irish Sea border about which it is now so genuinely concerned.
It is inconceivable that Brussels would have made such a mistake in reverse.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAnd I believe that a very large part of this disaster is the fact that the details of trade and of regulations are so highly complex that very few people understand them.
Certainly it is one reason the unionist reaction to the protocol has been so mild.
There is still only a limited understanding of the constitutional ramifications of it.
Therefore, there are a number of simple core points that I think unionists should try to keep in mind at all times.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe first is to reject the idea that the protocol is only a minor modification to the Act of Union, and that that founding document has been amended before and so is of little consequence.
We heard this point being made at the end of June, when the government won in court against those unionist politicians who had challenged the legality of the Irish Sea border.
Apologists for the protocol rushed to welcome the judge’s verdict and they went on to say that the principle of consent was untouched.
The people of Northern Ireland were still in the UK and only with their consent would that ever change.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBut this is entirely misleading. It implies that unfettered trade within a nation is a minor matter of limited consequence..
In fact it is a fundamental matter, indeed one of only a relatively small number of fundamental matters,such as defence and the Treasury.
If one such crucial matter can be set aside at a stroke, if impliedly repealed by other hurriedly enacted legislation, and that is not seen as an attack on the presumption of consent with regard to our membership of the UK, then consent is greatly undermined, if not rendered meaningless.
The second core point that unionists should absorb is related to the damage done to the Act of Union: they should stop saying ‘we want to help protect the EU single market’.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdI have heard unionists from Doug Beattie to Edwin Poots echo Brandon Lewis in making this pledge.
Mr Lewis has to say that, because the UK is in treaty with the EU.
Unionists should be saying no such thing. The internal UK market has been trashed at the behest of the EU.
In those circumstances, we should have not the slightest interest in whether or not the EU single market is protected. If it isn’t protected then hard luck to them. Brussels shattered our own precious market.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe third thing is that unionists need to be wary of this mantra about the democratic deficit of the protocol.
Of course that deficit is an outrage but we need to be very wary indeed of where that argument takes us.
It is a path towards a future Sinn Fein-led crisis that NI must have either its own EU representation of else representation via the Republic as proxy.
In other words, of course we want a say in the trade rules that govern us, but not in ways that mean fresh constitutional damage to an already damaged Union.
• Ben Lowry (@Benlowry2) is News Letter acting editor
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry July 31: The last NI housing boom was disaster, and we need to beware a repeat
Other articles by Ben Lowry below, and beneath that information on how to subscribe to the News Letter:
• Ben Lowry July 24: Republican terror atrocities are increasingly being partly blamed on the security forces
• Ben Lowry July 24: Hot weather ought to be welcome in NI but this is extreme
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry July 17: UK has tipped into an amnesty after a long approach to IRA that lacked bite
• Ben Lowry July 15: We should be honest as to how we have arrived at a Troubles amnesty
• Ben Lowry July 10: We will find soon if UK is for once going to criticise Ireland
• Ben Lowry July 10: I once always wanted England to lose, now I want them to win
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry July 3: The mild DUP response to the protocol will cause Boris little concern
• Ben Lowry July 3: The extreme heat in Canada shows why we might come to like Northern Ireland’s mild weather
• Ben Lowry June 26: Neither Dublin nor IRA have been put under any pressure on legacy
• Ben Lowry June 26: A slight sense of sadness as the days again begin to shorten
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry June 19: Somehow the appeasement of Sinn Fein got worse
• Ben Lowry June 12: Now above all, when unionists are winning the argument on the Protocol, is time to stand firm against it
• Ben Lowry June 5: It is clear that Edwin Poots is not taking the DUP in a remotely hardline direction
• Ben Lowry May 29: There is much confusion in unionism, so here are some suggested core pro Union principles
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry May 22: Instead of ‘moving on’ from IRA funeral, we still need proper answers
• Ben Lowry May 22: If Joel Keys, 19, wants to help unionism he should get a law degree
• Ben Lowry May 15: Edwin Poots and Doug Beattie will offer two distinct shades of unionism
• Ben Lowry May 8: Formal UK ideas for an amnesty are almost exactly 20 years old
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry May 8: Let us hope that the brilliant Eoghan Harris keeps on writing
• Ben Lowry May 1: Unionism can’t just be about managing long-term defeat
• Ben Lowry April 24: NI seems to rely increasingly on just one pollster for data on attitudes to a border poll
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry April 17: DUP still has to choose between managing this disaster or total rejection of it
• Ben Lowry April 10: His enduring marriage to the Queen was key to our understanding of Prince Philip
• Ben Lowry April 3: Radio grilling of UUP leader exposed folly of unionists blaming Simon Byrne for funeral
• Ben Lowry Mar 27: There should not be an Irish language act, but it is too late — the DUP has agreed one
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry Mar 20: We have made it through the worst of the dark, dreaded winter lockdown
• Ben Lowry Mar 20: MLAs lost control of abortion by rejecting modest law reform
• Ben Lowry Mar 13: Whatever future Boris Johnson adopts for Northern Ireland seems set to lead to a crisis
• Ben Lowry Mar 13: Scotland tunnel isn’t fantasy, but something kids of today might see
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry Mar 6: The cost of victims’ pension has ballooned without explanation as to why
• Ben Lowry Feb 27: Unionists have fully turned against Irish Sea border because they’ve seen the scale of disaster
• Ben Lowry Feb 20: We still lack answers as to why IRA funeral got special treatment at Roselawn
• Ben Lowry Feb 13: Peter Robinson has long experience of what is and is not politically feasible
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry Feb 6: There is barely any unionist support for violence, despite justified anger at sea border
• Ben Lowry Jan 30: At last, clear reason for UK and unionists to stop being weak towards Ireland/EU
• Ben Lowry Jan 23: Lockdown sceptics have been undermined by crazy theories, but sensible criticisms haven’t gone away
• Ben Lowry Jan 16: The Irish Sea border was imposed because UK knew unionists would take it
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad• Ben Lowry in 2020: Last night unionists celebrated a move towards Irish unity
——— ———
A message from the Editor:
Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.
With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.
Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdOur journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.
Ben Lowry
Acting Editor