Ahead of the Conservative party conference this weekend, party leader Kemi Badenoch has, once again, demonstrated her lack of suitability for the role she has found herself in. Speaking on the topic of Brexit in an interview with BBC News Northern Ireland, Badenoch mistakenly said that \u2018last time I checked, Ireland, Northern Ireland did vote to leave\u2019 the European Union.<\/p>\n
Badenoch may want to \u2018check\u2019 a little better next time, as Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union at the 2016 referendum, with only 44 per cent of the population voting in favour of leaving. Of course, the United Kingdom as a whole voted in favour of Brexit, a fact which Badenoch only conceded after repeated pressing on the issue, saying \u2018a lot of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain, you\u2019re right. But her misspeaking (if I\u2019m being generous) betrays her lack of knowledge on the region as a whole.<\/p>\n
\nBadenoch risks her conjecture about leaving the ECHR being just that<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Badenoch continued digging a hole for herself, stating that the settlement that was reached for Northern Ireland \u2013 the Windsor Framework \u2013 was an attempt to offer the region \u2018the best of both worlds\u2019 regarding its status within the EU single market. This statement is in direct conflict<\/a> with the realities of life in post-Brexit Northern Ireland, where overregulation and bureaucracy are hampering the region\u2019s trade capabilities while undermining the idea of the Union itself.<\/p>\n
For the leader of the Conservative and Unionist party to back her party\u2019s decision to implement such an ill-considered policy, after years of examples of how it remains politically contentious and economically damaging, is a shocking dereliction of responsibility in owning up to the mistakes that were, and continue to be, made. In her interview with the BBC, Badenoch stated, \u2018I am the new Conservative party leader,\u2019 despite having been in the role for almost a year and with very little to show for her efforts.<\/p>\n
At the party conference in Manchester this weekend, Badenoch is expected to announce her plan to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the unlikely event that the Tories were to win the next general election. Drawing on her clear lack of expertise on the issue of Northern Ireland, it makes one wonder just how well thought-through such a policy announcement is. It was less than a year ago that, during the Conservative party leadership campaign, Badenoch claimed<\/a> that leaving the ECHR would not solve any of the country\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n
Former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman released a detailed report in July which claimed that to leave the ECHR, the government must first amend \u2018the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), the Northern Ireland Protocol, and the Windsor Framework\u2019. While this viewpoint has not been agreed upon across the board, there is no doubt that any such withdrawal from the ECHR would have huge ramifications for the constitutional situation in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
In June, Badenoch commissioned her own report into withdrawing from the ECHR, referred to as the Lawfare Commission. She is expected to present the findings of this report to her shadow cabinet ahead of the party conference this weekend. Among the key tests that will be used to assess the usefulness of the ECHR is the ability to bring an end to the persecution of members of the British armed forces over historic allegations of misconduct. The conditional amnesty for perpetrators of historic violence during the Troubles formed a key part of The Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act. In her BBC interview, Badenoch claimed that armed forces veterans are \u2018worried that again and again, decisions are being made by politicians but they are the ones being held accountable for them\u2019. It will be worth listening for how she aims to resolve this important issue.<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen whether Badenoch will follow the suggestions of her colleague, Suella Braverman, in how she would aim to negotiate leaving the ECHR. If not, a credible alternative must be presented. Otherwise, all her conjecture about leaving the ECHR will be just that.<\/p>\n
The issue of Northern Ireland is clearly not Kemi Badenoch\u2019s strong point. Conservative party supporters will be hoping that she will use party conference time wisely to mitigate the growing uncertainty around her policy positions and use the platform to attempt to win back a share of support from Reform. Whether that transpires as they hope it will \u2013 only time will tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of the Conservative party conference this weekend, party leader Kemi Badenoch has, once again, demonstrated her lack…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-471315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115310777198216505","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}