
Interview. The Brexit negotiation – Dodds warns against the “annexation” of Northern Ireland
The DUP’s Westminster Leader says the Irish border issue is being exploited by people who want “to thwart leaving the EU if they can”.
The DUP’s Westminster Leader says the Irish border issue is being exploited by people who want “to thwart leaving the EU if they can”.
Also: Bradley talks up pay cut for MLAs; Williamson to protect troops from SNP tax hike; Foster attacks Varadkar for overstepping in talks; and more.
For all its compromises and ambiguities, it is the only practicable means to hand of giving the province something approaching normalcy.
Also: SNP’s deputy leadership contest reveals splits over Europe and ‘Indyref2’; and Jones demands ‘soft border’ between Irish and Welsh ports post-Brexit.
Also: Bradley admits that she is obliged to call an Ulster election (but won’t say when); Tories attack SNP’s ‘double-dip’ tax hike; and more.
Also: May wades into Scottish flag row; Liberal Democrat accused of costing taxpayers thousands to prop up Jones; and DUP dismiss legal threat to £1 billion deal.
But unless his fully-developed vision of the future can capture heart-and-minds, I’d expect control of the party to stay with the mainstream.
Also: Scottish Tories row in behind bid to wreck the Withdrawal Bill; infighting in Welsh Labour over method of electing new leader; and more.
As 2017 draws to a close, the United Kingdom is in better shape than many of its supporters had dared to hope.
Also: Cairns criticised over future of Swansea tidal lagoon; SNP squeeze private schools as teacher crisis deepends; and Foster ‘was not fully warned’ about RHI risks.
Plus: May’s EU trials, Labour’s EU shifts – and how Russia got there before Trump by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Well, part of it.
The DUP leader rejects “any form of regulatory divergence which separates Northern Ireland economically or politically from the rest of the UK”.
Of course Ulster’s trade with the mainland must be protected as top priority, but a degree of flexibility on regulations in a small number of sectors is sensible.
The DUP leader has not yet shown she knows how to make the strange machinery set up in Stormont work.
A sensible solution is achievable, but unnecessary brinksmanship and over-the-top rhetoric helps nobody.