Blair blasts Boris over lack of plan to deal with Brexit

Sir Tony Blair has accused Boris Johnson of lacking a coherent plan for dealing with the changes the country faces as a result of Brexit.
Traffic crossing the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the village of Bridgend, Co Donegal. (Brian Lawless/PA Wire)Traffic crossing the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the village of Bridgend, Co Donegal. (Brian Lawless/PA Wire)
Traffic crossing the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the village of Bridgend, Co Donegal. (Brian Lawless/PA Wire)

The former prime minister said leaving the EU was one of three major challenges facing the UK, alongside the technological revolution and the transition to net zero, but the government did not have a proper strategic plan for dealing with any of them.

In an online address, he warned that without a radical shift in policy, the country would see an inexorable decline leading to a future that was “poorer, less prosperous and less powerful”.

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“There is a gaping hole in the governing of Britain where new ideas should be,” he said.

“Without a radical shift in policy, we face a steady, inexorable compound decline, similar to the 1960s and 1970s.

“It could be several years before we realise this, but with our present course, we are relegating ourselves to a league which is poorer, less prosperous and less powerful.”

On Brexit, he said the government’s own forecasts pointed to a long term drop of 4% in national income while the lack of a new regulatory strategy was exacerbating costs for business deepening the “economic hit”.

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Meanwhile, a major American consultancy firm says that trade between NI and the Republic “surged” by between 48-60% in the first nine months of last year, and that the NI Protocol is having “an overall positive effect on the NI economy”.

In a report published this week, AECOM said 2021 has proven to be a “surprising” year in relation to the NI Protocol and how pronounced the effects have already been on trading patterns within the British Isles.

It said total exports from NI to the Republic surged by 60% to £2.4 billion in the first nine months of the year, while total imports from the Republic to NI surged by 48% to £2.1 billion in the same period.

The news will be seen by many unionists as confirming fears that the NI Protocol is strengthening economic ties with the Republic to compensate for NI businesses which are forced to sever ties with GB suppliers due to EU customs red tape.

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Writing in the News Letter last month, economist Graham Gudgin said: “Since the protocol came into force, the evidence from official statistics is that economic growth in NI has been one of slowest of any UK region. Much of this is in any case due the impact of Covid, and the way this impact is measured particularly in the public sector, and it is difficult to draw any conclusion from this data about the impact of the protocol.”