The situation in Northern Ireland and the war in Ukraine are the top issues as the Prime Minister takes questions from MPs.
Like the SNP, the EU are often an overtly hostile negotiating partner. They will take whatever ground he gives up and come back for more.
A solution that addresses unionist concerns and wins back cross-community consensus for any new governance framework is the only way to achieve the aims of the Protocol that the EU and UK signed up for in the first place
It would be unwise to scupper a deal on data which would allow hands-off, targeted enforcement and free local and mainland-facing Ulster businesses from EU control.
As I vote on legislation passing through Parliament, I notice a steady stream of laws that we could not have passed were we still in the EU.
The most likely way through this impasse is a new agreement, sitting on top of the existing Protocol and introducing a new set of principles on how it operates. Such an agreement must preserve Northern Ireland’s constitutional status.
Time and again, their more muscular – to borrow a phrase – approach to Westminster’s prerogatives has paid off. Yet they don’t set Union policy.
They didn’t get a surge when the UK Internal Market Act passed and saw only a temporary one after their Supreme Court defeat. What about now?
The Foreign Secretary might be inclined to roll over, as he is on the British Indian Ocean Territory, but he can’t order Stormont back to its feet.
From renationalisation of the energy and train companies to a bonfire of environmental and employment regulations, taking back control from Brussels has opened a new range of possibilities that were previously off the menu.
The most likely-looking outcome, at this point, is the same one which has marked the entire process: another deadline from the Government coming and going.
The Prime Minister has no way of even trying to ensure the dispute is over by April except capitulating to the EU.
Also: having missed his self-imposed deadline of October 28th, Heaton-Harris changes the law to push Stormont vote back to April.
Why has neither he nor Heaton-Harris pushed back against Sinn Fein’s nonsensical claims about ‘joint authority’ with Dublin?
Those who insist the Unionists can be bought off or pressured into backing down fundamentally misunderstand the situation.