>Mr McCormick, who retired last year as director general of International Relations for the Northern Ireland Executive Office, reiterated that view in the interview with the Queen’s academics.
>
>”We knew from the spring of 2020 that the protocol meant that the nature of the supply of agri-food goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland would mean very large numbers of Export Health Certificates (EHCs) would be required – more than you could imagine.
>
>”DEFRA and DAERA would have talked about it – they knew and understood the scale of the issue.
>
>”The business leaders, especially the retail sector, were saying very clearly from the spring of 2020 onwards that the issue would be unmanageable. So, for the UKG [UK government] to say recently that they didn’t expect the commission to enforce it this way is manifestly wrong.
>
>”UKG officials knew precisely what was going to happen, and made detailed proposals that would have mitigated the problem.”
>
>Mr McCormick said it was hard to understand the UK government’s actions as “they knew enough about the implications of the protocol to have acted in a way that would have minimised the difficulties and opposition, but did not do so”.
>
>He said he did not think that anyone can “take seriously the idea that they didn’t really expect the protocol to be as problematic, that they were duped or that the EU were not clear in what the provisions of the protocol would imply”.
>
>”Any attempt to run that argument ignores the plain fact that there were intense and detailed discussions throughout 2020,” he said.
>
>And he added: “So at best, there is a serious problem of mixed messages.
>
>”It is hardly surprising that the EU distrusts them when they changed their stance so radically.”
–
Add these must reads:
>Deborah Meaden 🇺🇦@DeborahMeaden [May 13, 2022 · 3:29 PM](https://nitter.net/DeborahMeaden/status/1525121004011499521#m)
>
>Please read this thread if you are in any doubt whatsoever that this Government knew exactly what the agreement was, exactly how much harm it would do and went ahead anyway knowing it would win them an election and cost so many so much:
>
>>>[This is the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill Impact Assessment, dated 21 October 2019:… 🧵](https://nitter.net/faisalislam/status/1525054013191880704#m)
–
Also:
>JPCampbellBiz @JP_Biz [6 Apr 2021](https://nitter.net/JP_Biz/status/1379521260212867076#m)
>
>The problems with the Irish Sea border were clearly understood within government, or a least the civil service, almost as soon at the Protocol was signed in October 2019. But the moves to mitigate those issues came very late
>
>>>[Brexit: Irish Sea border issues foreseen when deal was done](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55952459)
>>>
>>>The NI Protocol problems, which have been in sharp focus this week, were predicted by civil servants.
I wish “London” wouldn’t be used as a shorthand for the government. London didn’t vote for this shit.
This is almost idiotic levels of defence by the government.
1. Did you agree and sign the treaty? Yes.
2. Did you know what would happen if you wanted to change it? Yes, cause we signed it.
3. Now you want to change it? Yes.
4.. Do you still understand what you agreed to? Errr about that….
In dragging negotiations out until the 11th hour, Johnson has
massively squeezed the time available for MPs, experts, civil society,
businesses and trade unions to read and scrutinise the deal. The trade
agreement itself is 1240 pages long and was published in full on 26 December.
MPs were then presented with a highly technical implementation bill on the
afternoon of 29 December. The breadth of the issues to be considered is
illustrated by clause 29 of the bill. This provides a “Henry VIII” power (a
power to override primary legislation without a vote in parliament) to change any
law that may conflict with the provisions of the Brexit deal. This measure
could potentially impact the entire corpus of UK law.
MPs were given just a few hours to debate and vote on these documents on 30
December, as the agreement was rushed through Parliament to meet Johnson’s
deadline. This is an inherently undemocratic way of working. A complex deal,
with huge implications for the future of the UK, rammed through with no time
for any serious debate or amendment. British MPs, who had little input into the
UK negotiating position, were now asked to accept the outcome of Johnson’s
negotiation without even a yes or no vote. They are asked only to vote on the
implementation. There is no parliamentary vote on the deal itself.
Believe it or not, Parliament doesn’t get a vote on ratifying the
UK-EU deal
You mean the Tories.
London doesnt get a say. If we did there would be no Brexit…
thehives_hate_to_say_i_told_you_so_128kbps.mp3
The Tories showed themselves to be utterly ignorant to the political reality and history of the country and NI specifically.
Boris only announced his trip to NI yesterday, no doubt after being advised that a group of foreign politicians travelling 3,000 miles (the delegation from Congress) and meeting MLAs before he had bothered to get on a plane didn’t look very good
Christ, the BBC almost taking a critical view.
It looks more & more as if Theresa May was just trying to do her job, then Boris came along with his magic “get brexit done” beans & binned everything that mattered.
10 comments
>Mr McCormick, who retired last year as director general of International Relations for the Northern Ireland Executive Office, reiterated that view in the interview with the Queen’s academics.
>
>”We knew from the spring of 2020 that the protocol meant that the nature of the supply of agri-food goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland would mean very large numbers of Export Health Certificates (EHCs) would be required – more than you could imagine.
>
>”DEFRA and DAERA would have talked about it – they knew and understood the scale of the issue.
>
>”The business leaders, especially the retail sector, were saying very clearly from the spring of 2020 onwards that the issue would be unmanageable. So, for the UKG [UK government] to say recently that they didn’t expect the commission to enforce it this way is manifestly wrong.
>
>”UKG officials knew precisely what was going to happen, and made detailed proposals that would have mitigated the problem.”
>
>Mr McCormick said it was hard to understand the UK government’s actions as “they knew enough about the implications of the protocol to have acted in a way that would have minimised the difficulties and opposition, but did not do so”.
>
>He said he did not think that anyone can “take seriously the idea that they didn’t really expect the protocol to be as problematic, that they were duped or that the EU were not clear in what the provisions of the protocol would imply”.
>
>”Any attempt to run that argument ignores the plain fact that there were intense and detailed discussions throughout 2020,” he said.
>
>And he added: “So at best, there is a serious problem of mixed messages.
>
>”It is hardly surprising that the EU distrusts them when they changed their stance so radically.”
–
Add these must reads:
>Deborah Meaden 🇺🇦@DeborahMeaden [May 13, 2022 · 3:29 PM](https://nitter.net/DeborahMeaden/status/1525121004011499521#m)
>
>Please read this thread if you are in any doubt whatsoever that this Government knew exactly what the agreement was, exactly how much harm it would do and went ahead anyway knowing it would win them an election and cost so many so much:
>
>>>[This is the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill Impact Assessment, dated 21 October 2019:… 🧵](https://nitter.net/faisalislam/status/1525054013191880704#m)
–
Also:
>JPCampbellBiz @JP_Biz [6 Apr 2021](https://nitter.net/JP_Biz/status/1379521260212867076#m)
>
>The problems with the Irish Sea border were clearly understood within government, or a least the civil service, almost as soon at the Protocol was signed in October 2019. But the moves to mitigate those issues came very late
>
>>>[Brexit: Irish Sea border issues foreseen when deal was done](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55952459)
>>>
>>>The NI Protocol problems, which have been in sharp focus this week, were predicted by civil servants.
I wish “London” wouldn’t be used as a shorthand for the government. London didn’t vote for this shit.
This is almost idiotic levels of defence by the government.
1. Did you agree and sign the treaty? Yes.
2. Did you know what would happen if you wanted to change it? Yes, cause we signed it.
3. Now you want to change it? Yes.
4.. Do you still understand what you agreed to? Errr about that….
In dragging negotiations out until the 11th hour, Johnson has
massively squeezed the time available for MPs, experts, civil society,
businesses and trade unions to read and scrutinise the deal. The trade
agreement itself is 1240 pages long and was published in full on 26 December.
MPs were then presented with a highly technical implementation bill on the
afternoon of 29 December. The breadth of the issues to be considered is
illustrated by clause 29 of the bill. This provides a “Henry VIII” power (a
power to override primary legislation without a vote in parliament) to change any
law that may conflict with the provisions of the Brexit deal. This measure
could potentially impact the entire corpus of UK law.
MPs were given just a few hours to debate and vote on these documents on 30
December, as the agreement was rushed through Parliament to meet Johnson’s
deadline. This is an inherently undemocratic way of working. A complex deal,
with huge implications for the future of the UK, rammed through with no time
for any serious debate or amendment. British MPs, who had little input into the
UK negotiating position, were now asked to accept the outcome of Johnson’s
negotiation without even a yes or no vote. They are asked only to vote on the
implementation. There is no parliamentary vote on the deal itself.
Believe it or not, Parliament doesn’t get a vote on ratifying the
UK-EU deal
You mean the Tories.
London doesnt get a say. If we did there would be no Brexit…
thehives_hate_to_say_i_told_you_so_128kbps.mp3
The Tories showed themselves to be utterly ignorant to the political reality and history of the country and NI specifically.
Boris only announced his trip to NI yesterday, no doubt after being advised that a group of foreign politicians travelling 3,000 miles (the delegation from Congress) and meeting MLAs before he had bothered to get on a plane didn’t look very good
Christ, the BBC almost taking a critical view.
It looks more & more as if Theresa May was just trying to do her job, then Boris came along with his magic “get brexit done” beans & binned everything that mattered.