Hello, and welcome to the latest instalment of the Government’s ongoing staring match with Unionists over the Northern Irish Protocol.
Last week, we reported how Chris Heaton-Harris was standing firm by his threat to trigger a fresh Stormont election at one minute past midnight tonight of the Democratic Unionists don’t consent to let the Province’s devolved institutions stagger back to their feet.
Now Steve Baker, fresh from his recent campaign of love-bombing the Nationalists, has suggested that the DUP should instead “choke down the position they have taken” in order to avoid a fresh set of elections.
Coming from the man who recently apologised to Dublin and Brussels for failing to respect their “legitimate interests” during the negotiations, the attitude exhibits scant respect for the legitimate interests of Unionists in resisting the sea border blundered into by Theresa May’s incompetent team.
Still, they don’t seem to be minded to heed him. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said that he is “not afraid to take my case to the people” following a video call with the Secretary of State.
The question remains, however, as to what fresh elections will change. Unless the DUP is overtaken as the largest Unionist party (unlikely) it will still have a veto over whether or not the power-sharing Executive can reform.
One option would be formally overhauling the institutions so that power-sharing is no longer required – an option that was for some reason never so seriously considered on the several occasions it was Sinn Fein walking out of Stormont.
Another is so-called ‘direct rule’, where Westminster actually shoulders its responsibility to provide good government to Northern Ireland.
Perhaps in order to try and scare Unionists away from this option, politicians from other parties – first Naomi Long of the Alliance, now Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Fein – have started to claim that any direct rule arrangement would require direct involvement from the Republic of Ireland. Indeed, McDonald goes so far as to say it wouldn’t actually be direct rule at all, but a joint arrangement.
This is not just nonsense – Northern Ireland is not a condominium – but would actually breach the Belfast Agreement, as it would be a clear change in Ulster’s constitutional status without a referendum. It’s another useful reminder of the quite brazen double standard applied to interpreting the Agreement’s provisions for unionists and nationalists.
Doug Beattie, the Ulster Unionist leader, has rightly called out the suggestion of joint authority. But it’s also notable that neither Heaton-Harris nor Baker, both apparently in tough-talking mode, have taken the time to push back on it. Are they hoping McDonald’s lies can help scare the DUP back into Stormont?
SNP woes latest
Regular readers will know that there are some weeks when there are so many red lights flashing on the SNP dashboard that all one can really do within the confines of this column is offer a whistle-stop tour thereof.
This isn’t the worst we’ve had on record, but the drum-beat of domestic failures continue to mount for the Scottish Government.
First, the Herald reports that Nicola Sturgeon will give evidence to a Holyrood inquiry about the scandal of the Ferguson Marine ferry contracts. Back in April she had to deny engaging in a cover-up after admitting that her government had misplaced key documents.
Meanwhile the Daily Record reports that almost six thousand local government jobs could be lost north of the border due to “SNP Government neglect”, and Nationalist MSPs have attacked their own administration’s plans for a national care service.
The recently launched economic ‘case’ for independence continues to be savaged by previously sympathetic activists and commentators; EU sources have also dealt a blow to ‘sterlingisation’ by insisting an independent Scotland would need to commit to the Euro in order to join the bloc.
Luckily for Sturgeon, the recent chaos in Westminster has helped to distract from her party’s multitude of woes, although with Rishi Sunak now in post that might no longer be the case. Douglas Ross, the embattled leader of the Scottish Tories, has endorsed the new Prime Minister’s unionist bona fides.