How The EU And The Irish Government Conspired to Steal British Territory.
Today, Thursday 20 Aug 2020, UK Chief Negotiator David Frost is once again in Brussels for Round Seven of the UK-EU trade talks with the EU Commission’s Michel Barnier. The two sides will be covering much of the same ground as before and little progress is expected by either side. It's actually getting quite boring because the most fundamental issue is a trade deal and the EU shows no sign of acceding to the UK’s perfectly reasonable request for an agreement very similar to the ones the EU has recently negotiated with other countries.
Meanwhile, the abomination that is the Withdrawal Agreement still stands
One of the most contentious areas of the Withdrawal Agreement originally negotiated by Theresa May was the Northern Ireland Protocol. Whilst Boris Johnson and David Frost renegotiated this, it remains unacceptable.
This has nothing to do with peace, and everything to do with the dictatorial and colonial EU
The EU and the Irish government colluded over one issue and made it into a cause célèbre to try to keep the UK in the EU — and to punish the UK by stealing UK Territory if it actually delivered on the result of the EU Referendum and left. Below I present the evidence.
Just 0.23% of the EU’s global imports cross the border from Northern Ireland
The Irish border is only mentioned once — in passing — in the Good Friday Agreement (GFA)
The GFA does not require membership of the EU, Customs Union, Single Market [NI court ruling]
HMRC, Irish Customs, and the EU Parliament’s expert report all saw no problem & no hard border
Brexit for Northern Ireland presents almost no risk to the EU or its Single Market
The N.I. exports over the border will account for only 0.2% of total EU imports
The EU and the Irish Government prevented UK and Irish Customs from agreeing on a simple solution
Here is the evidence
The EU Parliament’s own commissioned expert told it's Exiting the EU Committee.
“There would not need to be any necessary infrastructure and not need to be either CCTV cameras or number plate readers.”
– Lars Karlsson, commissioned an expert to the EU Parliament, Brexit Border/Customs Report, Mar 2018, former Director Of The World Customs Organization.
“Declarations would be electronic. Most transactions would be immediately approved and that would be the end of that.”
- Liam Irwin, then Irish Revenue Commissioner, evidence to the Dáil Committee, 16 May 2017
There is no quantifiable risk to the EU’s Single Market
Northern Ireland’s goods sales across the border are so small they will amount to a rounding error in the EU’s accounts, post-Brexit.
After Brexit, NI’s cross-border sales will account for just 0.23% of total imports into the EU. [Sources: Eurostat | HMRC | NISRA ]
0.23% is NOT any kind of threat to the integrity of the EU’s Single Market.
How the EU and Irish government colluded in this deception
The EU and the Irish Government deliberately prevented a solution for three years
Irish Deputy, Committee of the Dáil: “Could Mr Cody clarify whether there is a legal impediment to negotiations between us [and the UK] so we can have discussions?” Mr Niall Cody (then head of Irish Customs): “Yes.”
Sir Jon Thompson, Head of HMRC, evidence to Exiting the European Union Committee, 29 Nov 2017: “There are no formal conversations with either the French or the Irish. We cannot talk to Customs or taxation management organisations in either of those countries.”
UK Parliament Committee questions to the EU’s commissioned customs expert, Lars Karlsson: “The proposal you’ve put here hasn’t been tested at any location anywhere in the world.”
Lars Karlsson: “No that’s not correct. It actually has.”
Peace in Northern Ireland is vital. Playing politics with that peace to punish the UK is a disgrace.
The fundamental fact in this report is this:
Just 0.23% of the EU’s global imports cross the border from Northern Ireland
For this minuscule detail, the EU and Irish Governments fabricated the N.I. border issue, claiming that somehow the integrity of the entire Single Market was at stake because of Brexit.
I believe the EU did so for two main reasons: 1. They wanted to punish the UK by getting it to cede control of part of its territory, and 2. It served their colonial ambitions in what would effectively be a land grab.
I believe the Irish Government colluded in this for two reasons:
1. To curry favour with Brussels,
2. To achieve a united Ireland.
As I have shown above, it was perfectly possible to establish unobtrusive new border arrangements on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Instead, the EU fabricated a complete non-issue for its ends.
To play politics like this with such a sensitive issue is a disgrace. Those of us who remember the decades of the Troubles know how difficult it was to reach the Good Friday Agreement, and I do as I did three tours and another 18 months in a special unit that saw some of the worst atrocities in NI.
Many would still object to this Agreement on many levels, but that is a different matter.
The simple fact is that relative peace was achieved. And the EU has spent the last four years putting this peace in jeopardy. It's a national disgrace, one which prominent Remainers in Parliament, as well as celebrities on television and radio, went along with. In the past, they would have ended up in the Tower of London awaiting their fate for Treason against the Crown. They all should be on bended knees thanking their lucky stars we live in a far more tolerant society.
[ Sources: NISRA | HMRC | The Dáil (Irish Parliament) | Eurostat | UK Parliament ]
