Sir Keir Starmer should help apply pressure on EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol

News Letter editorial on Friday June 10 2022:
News Letter editorialNews Letter editorial
News Letter editorial

The Labour Party leader arrived in Belfast last night from Dublin.

Sir Keir Starmer will meet Northern Ireland politicians on his visit.

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Meanwhile, there was a significant development yesterday evening. It was confirmed that the government will bring forward a bill to overhaul the NI Protocol next week.

This of itself by no means ensures that the Irish Sea border will be dismantled soon, or ever. Even the most radical of the mooted government plans still keep a protocol in place, and still involve constitutional damage for Northern Ireland.

Thus the detail of the proposed law will need careful scrutiny.

The DUP has been entirely right to delay a return to devolution while the principle of consent, which has been central to unionist acquiescence in the post 1998 Stormont settlement, is shattered by the NI Protocol.

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It has been reassuring to see the growing awareness within the Conservative Party of this profound political problem. Thus while fierce Tory opponents of the tougher Downing St thinking on NI (such as Julian Smith MP and Simon Hoare MP) would merrily sink any notion of unilateral UK action, a growing number of influential Conservatives such as John Redwood MP are demanding it.

This is an important moment for Labour. Sir Keir has been careful to avoid a return to his party’s pro Irish nationalist stance of the 1980s and early 1990s.

He said in a BBC interview that he would campaign for NI to stay in the UK in a border poll (although has not followed through on that welcome statement).

He is also, wisely, directing his criticism of protocol overhaul plans at the prime minister, not at unionists for backing it.

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Even so, Sir Keir should also apply pressure on the EU to retreat from an approach to the protocol that even Labour thinks is too rigid. Brussels has been emboldened by Boris Johnson’s current vulnerability, and needs to see that there is cross-party UK disapproval of its demands.