Christopher Howarth
@CJCHowarth
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Author of #TheDurianPact https://t.co/eQ1E6nCZUL 2019 Con candidate Sunderland. Fmr accountant, lawyer, spad, TA
Joined March 2014
EU: Importing sausages into NI from GB is a threat to peace. EU: Banning the export of vaccines from the EU (and GB) into NI is just fine.
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If only #stopthewar had known that the Royal Prerogative to make war had always been subject to the Judiciary. Judges could have decided on everything from WWII, Falklands, Iraq, to Syria? If only this judicial power had been known about. .
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France as a security partner. ! Refused to let UK have access to Galileo, painful nuclear discussions, pulled out of Euro-fighter to peruse an export version, and believes NI is not in the UK. Despite that the UK helps France in Africa etc. Cry me a lake😂.
We now know that France 🇫🇷 had been kept in the dark since the talks began last March. Seen from Paris, US conduct is galling but not particularly surprising, the UK's is self-damaging (Lancaster House. ) but unexpected in the age of Brexit. What hurts the most is Australia. .
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First he dreamed he was PM, now he thinks he is a Monarch calling his own Parliament - what next? Realisation?
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Theresa May's Whips office and Spads handed out roads, hospitals, jobs, promises of Peerages and threats on an industrial scale in her vein hope of getting her Chequers plan through. The media was uninterested. 🏥🛣🚀👑.
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A thought for MPs: If you vote for the 'deal' & Backstop you will own the 'deal' & Backstop for all time. Labour don't want to own this deal, pro Leave MPs won't - so who will defend it to the public over the coming years? Those who vote for it.
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Boris Johnson is right to stick to his timetable, using coronavirus to delay Brexit would be divisive, disruptive and indulgent. #backboris via @Telegraph.
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I am old enough to remember when dissolving Parliament for an election was a Royal rather than an EU27 Prerogative.
No10 source now says they will “look at ideas similar to that proposed by other opposition parties” if they lose election vote tomorrow. - Sounds like No10 thinking of something like the Lib Dem / SNP plan .- But everything contingent on EU decision on extension.
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Democracy not done or seen to be done. The hand picked MPs on the Committee who voted through an internal UK parcel barrier should be ashamed.
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There is near unanimous agreement the Northern Irish Protocol is a disaster for the Northern Irish economy. Some Remainers want to see that disaster to prove them right. The Government is right to ignore them.
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Brexiter MPs accuse government of ‘blatantly rigging’ NI deal vote
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So there we are. What did that Court case achieve except a few bad tempered debates, the ruination of the constitution and the reputation of @UKSupremeCourt ?
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The PM just claimed she has not agreed to negotiate on fish, no link between access and economic partnership. Para 75 of the political delaration does just that. Has she read it?.
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Not enough grace to apologise.
Please see our update in relation to the arrest of a girl in Leeds on Monday.
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@connoraxiotes @CharlotteCGill It's simple maths. The number of people who want to come here is far far greater than we could ever build. There is no virtue signaling sweet spot for you to sit in.
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Except the Tories were a Pro Brexit Party? And even Labour to some extent. Perhaps we could settle on 52/48?
This is a top fact via @PippaCrerar .Pro-Remain 40.3% v Pro-Brexit 34.9%.
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Imagine if the UK warned Ireland against picking a nationalist hardliner as PM. or Foreign Minister.
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Great news: Britain scraps FCDO plans to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius (also a great flag saved 🇮🇴🇮🇴🇮🇴🇮🇴)
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The UK was created by The Act of Union 1800. Article 6 guaranteed the UK's internal market.
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I worked on this while in the Home Office more than a year ago. You would be amazed to discover who blocked it!
@RishiSunak is to unveil a major package of measures on Monday to slash record levels of net migration, including a big increase in the salary threshold for foreign workers. @JamesCleverly @SuellaBraverman @RobertJenrick @miriam_cates
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I tend to remember them for something else.
"Martin McGuinness along with Gerry Adams will be remembered for the courage and leadership they showed.".
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A regular reminder: If the Spartans had accepted everyone's advice and voted for the May deal last year we would now be in a Customs Union vassal state and in the middle of a Tory leadership contest (while in opposition).
If the Spartans had voted for May’s deal, Brussels and Corbyn would have been in control, says @davidscullion
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The Hereditary Peers are often the best and most independent of the Peers. Not beholden to PM or Committee appointment systems and from a wide variety of backgrounds. Replacing them with yet more political life Peers would be sad.
Party insiders said the plan to remove all hereditary peers in the House of Lords would stop them from making or voting on laws, but they would be allowed to keep their passes to the Palace of Westminster
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I want a vote in the 1945 General Election. It had an impact on me, absolutely outrageous I was disenfranchised
CALLING all 18-20 year olds who weren't old enough to vote in the 2016 referendum. We're holding a debate on Thursday in Leeds and want YOU to take part. Email brexitinbetweeners@itn.co.uk if that's YOU! #brexitinbetweeners
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Well the Irish PM does not wish to discuss the backstop. so what's to discuss?
BoJo’s failure to make contact with the Taoiseach is an insult to Ireland. It is an act of studied indifference. He is clearly also trying to impress the DUP.
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What did Northern Ireland do to deserve this? The EU in town to claim credit for an agreement it had nothing to do with and has done its best to ruin.
Breaking News: President of the @EU_Commission, Ursula @vonderLeyen, will be joining us at #Agreement25. Watch Agreement 25 live here on 17 - 19 April: #EU #GFA25 #EUCommission.
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@JohnCassidy @martinwolf_ Maybe the green bit never really existed, puffed up statistics from over extended banks?
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Barwell belatedly realising the damage his Irish Sea Border is doing to the Union. His quest for Remain in name only has cost a PM, is costing power-sharing in NI and is endangering the union. Quite a legacy:
It's cost the DUP support - there is a very real prospect of Sinn Fein topping the poll in May. Now in a desperate attempt to stop that, they're undermining devolved government. But that's just going to further damage support for the status quo #whenyoureinaholestopdigging.
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Not exactly what a Tory PM would want to see in the Torygraph: "In years to come, lips will curl at the very name of treacherous Theresa who has surrendered our freedom" via @Telegraph.
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The Withdrawal Agreement refers to the PD of 25/11/2018. They can not be separated. Without the PD the chances of escaping backstop go from 1% to 0%. If the PD is later changed the WA changes and so needs re-approval. #theyarethesame #nothePDwillnotchange #backstopisintheWA
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Many thanks to @lionsofficial for sending my father his grandfather Alan Ayre Smith's 1899 Lions Cap. Touring Australia, Canada etc in 1899 was not easy - Lion No 067.
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The Windsor Framework is the Achilles heel of the UK's sovereignty - it was designed to be. The UK will forever be caught in EU laws unless it goes.
🔴 EXCLUSIVE: Rishi Sunak offers to sacrifice Brexit freedoms to re-establish government in Northern Ireland.
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End to the veto in Foreign Policy. The charms of 'ever closer union' we were lucky to escape.
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The Europa Hotel was bombed 36 times by PIRA, yet SF hold their nationalist rally there:
What an amazing response as we enter the Europa Hotel for the launch of the Sinn Féin election campaign. By working together, we can bring about real change. In this election, we can make history. @MaryLouMcDonald @johnfinucane @conormurphysf
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Windsor Framework will make Irish Sea border worse than it has been under the NI Protocol with grace periods, says Lords
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He is wrong of course and knows it. The WF is worse than the status quo, will increase friction and the 🔴🟢 lanes and 'all UK not for EU labelling' are impractical and will not work in October.
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Clapping, cheering, singing, placards, refusing to let the Government govern or hold an election. Yes Bercow has changed Parliament:
#Sunrise . - Extraordinary scenes in the Commons in the early hours as MPs protest prorogation with songs and placards (below). - Boris Johnson defeated for the 6th time and accuses MPs of dither and delay. - Departing Bercow joins the fray.
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Time for the UK to end the impasse on Northern Ireland, time to remove the Protocol. The EU can't be allowed to have a veto on the GFA and power sharing. Varadkar's nationalist threats to overturn power sharing childish.
@DUPleader just for the record, Jeffrey Donaldson after his Varadkar meeting saying “I don’t know if Stormont will be restored in weeks or months, that depends on the British government” and “there is no question of a split within the party over the WF or a return to Stormont.”
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That is not far off the size of the entire British Army, lost in 3 weeks.
Extraordinary -- #Russia's *visually confirmed* losses in #Ukraine, 3 weeks in:. - 233 tanks .- 474 armored vehicles.- 52 comms & engineering vehicles.- 69 air defense systems.- 94 artillery systems.- 13 fighter jets.- 32 helicopters .- 428 trucks & jeeps.
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@Sam_Dumitriu Great idea, could ban Golf and build on public parks as well. Obviously the prime motive for Government should be packing in more people, some space on motorway verges should be considered as well.
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Windsor Framework revealed as an unworkable con-trick.
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Ireland @simoncoveney claims EU wants to replace 'backstop' CU with 'alternatives', but adds he believes there are no alternatives (there are), so argues UK can not be allowed to leave. Pull the other one! Blatant attempt to have an Irish veto on UK leaving Customs Union.
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If GCHQ is full of smart people who understand 5G and Huawei better than the US why is there no UK venture capital going into a UK built 5G? Seems like a good opportunity for UK investment?.
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A warm up act for the full SF/IRA government in Dublin. If you think he is an Anglophobic boor. wait until the gang he is helping into power come along.
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Carney becomes Governor of the B of England. Did a dreadful job, splurged on QE, setting up the current inflation & interest rate problem goes home then laughs at us from Canada.
Strong line by @MarkJCarney : the Brexiteers promised Singapore on Thames and end up, a year ago, with Argentina on the Channel.
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@ragipsoylu Same Pentagon?
⚡️⚡️US says Russian forces are likely to encircle Kyiv in the next 72 hours: Agencies.
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I get why politicians feel the need to refer to the Irish Government as friends & allies. But they are really not in any meaningful sense 'allies' and often not very friendly.
Impressively calm baton-passing by our great friends and allies. .
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Northern Ireland Haulier Peter Summerton.:. The Windsor Framework will divert trade and hurt Northern Irish consumers:.
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The only two alternatives Barwell could imagine: Vassalage to the EU or a split down the middle of the UK. How was he ever allowed to present that, be in charge of Conservative policy or anything badged Conservative for that matter???.
It should now be clear to the DUP that supporting Brexit was a huge strategic error for them and unionism in NI. It's reduced support for the Union. It's led to a border in the Irish Sea (because the ERG prefer that to the alternative - customs union + regulatory alignment).
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Interesting. The EU was already proposing tinkering with the Protocol. Presumably the Internal Market Bill is in line with what has already been agreed. A fake row?
It had escaped my notice that in June the EU proposed a series of amendments to the Withdrawal Agreement. These are described as corrections and as dealing with situations unforeseen at the time the WA was signed (as per Art 164 WA). The proposed amendments are … 1/n
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@DarranMarshall Because NI is not in Ireland, he is a foreign head of Government. Not that difficult. UK PM's don't ponder annexing parts of Ireland.
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While the UK fishing is a small industry (because much of it is in France) that does not mean we should hand it over along with other small industries. UK fish are a UK natural resource and not for negotiation. We are not asking for the EU's natural resources or sovereignty.
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Ireland wants to annex Northern Ireland and the Protocol is their tool. Of course they won't engage with Unionists on it.
‘@SimonCoveney hasn’t contacted me in months. There isn’t even engagement with unionism,’ says @J_Donaldson_MP. Irish govt ‘totally dismissive’ of unionist concerns about NI protocol, DUP leader tells me for today’s Sunday Independent. @MichealMartinTD.
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Republic of Ireland voters want to annex Northern Ireland not unite with it:
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Having to beg the EU for temporary permission to send vetenary medicines form one bit of the UK to another. Then having to do it all over again.
Today we've taken steps to ensure the continuity of supplies of veterinary medicines from Great Britain to Northern Ireland – but also Cyprus, Ireland, and Malta. The decision underlines our commitment to engaging with the UK to find agreed solutions around the Protocol.
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@Tobias_Ellwood Flip side. Why are Tory MPs not representative of Tory members and voters?.
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.@ConHome The Windsor Framework’s labelling rules will cut Northern Irish businesses off from British supply chains.
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Kindly and selflessly offering to help make our laws, regulate our economy, spend our money and run NI, taking the strain off our own poor Parliamentarians:
A photo for the ages. Europe’s finest diplomats coming to the rescue of a crisis-stricken UK catastrophically let-down by its own political class in the true spirit of European solidarity. Let’s not blow this second chance.
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I remember you coming to one such meeting. You failed to convince because you could not answer basic questions on the detail and operation of your deal. Which is why I think you had no idea you created the Irish Sea Border.
. or he is lying to avoid responsibility for the damage which the deal he supported has done to the peace process and unionism. Fwiw I think it's the latter - the ERG MPs I spent many hours debating all of this with gave every impression of feeling very passionately about it.
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Rishi Sunak should have stuck with Boris Johnson's EU deal and not the Windsor Framework
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Rishi Sunak must rip up EU laws immediately to deliver on Brexit’s promise
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Lord Frost is right @GavinBarwell bears responsibility for the Northen Irish Protocol and Irish Sea Border. His Dec 2017 Joint Report was one of the wost pieces of UK diplomacy in history.
Brexit: Lord Frost blames Theresa May for problems with Northern Ireland Protocol
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The Republic of Ireland is in a bad place. A potential Government linked to murderous paramilitaries. FF/FG played with Brit bashing nationalism and predictably it grew until it could eat them.
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So which part of this "No motion to vary or supplement the provisions of this Order shall be made except by a Minister of the Crown" Allows Bercow to allow amendments and so overrule a Motion of the Commons??.
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Because sending GB sausages to NI is a threat to Western unity 🤡 #FBPE.
Because to the ERG the pursuit of 'pure Brexit' is far more important than western unity in the face of Russian threats to invade Ukraine.
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Grieve's latest fantasy cunning plan defeated:
Amendment 17 to Clause 3 of the #NIExecutiveFormationBill, has been rejected 293 to 289. It would have required the Government to schedule debates on the progress reports required by the #NIExecutiveFormationBill.
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Ireland @simoncoveney doing sterling work for 'No deal' WTO. Saving the UK £39bn.
And if the EU26 rat on Dublin, MEPs won’t, Coveney insists: “The European Parliament will not ratify a Withdrawal Agreement without a backstop in it. It’s as simple as that” #Marr.
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More generous offers from the EU for the UK to pay for their defence. Why would the UK pay into an EU 'sovereignty fund' (particularly given the way the EU treated UK sovereignty in NI.)
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Kier Starmer's Labour, the Lib Dems, Greens and the SNP all voted for this. If they would do it in Scotland they would do it in Westminster.
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Sir Bernard Jenkin MP @bernardjenkin speaking in his Northern Ireland Protocol debate explains: "The grounds for invoking Article 16 have already been met"
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Sir John Bell, Regius professor at Oxford University at the heart of the team that developed AZ vaccine: . EU "bad behaviour from scientists and from politicians has probably killed hundreds of thousands of people - and that they cannot be proud of.".
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No 10 ‘acting like North Korea’ to fast-track Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal
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@UKLabour Brave given your leader was Director of Public Prosecutions, shall we have a look at his lamentable record of turning a blind eye to some criminals and going after innocents?.
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Ireland should have prioritised UK to Ireland trade in the trade talks rather then focusing on their demand for an intra UK trade border.
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Contrary to EU assertions (and reports from a certain pink London paper) some UK cancer treatments are indeed now banned in Northern Ireland. The Protocol needs to go.
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Barwell misses the point again. Rebel MPs are not after the PM they simply do not want the Withdrawal Deal. If we agree a permanent backstop, whoever negotiates the trade deal is immaterial.
Theresa May’s close allies privately concede they are on course to lose the vote on her Withdrawal Agreement, set for January 15. #StandUp4Brexit #DitchTheDeal.
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The EU is not based on trust it's based on legal enforcement. Always has been. If there is trust there is no need for legalities, (I.e UK/Australian defence cooperation). EU wants to enforce its rules on the UK.
Next, trade deals are a closer binding based on trust, they may not even seem to provide much greater access than WTO, but are a symbol of both sides intention to work together. Both parties accept the rules as part of the trust. To put it mildly, absent between UK and EU. 6/.
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@MichelBarnier @BorisJohnson Apart from the intra UK Irish Sea border and changing NI's constitutional settlement without consent.
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So the UK pays for EU defence, gives over its fish, pays for EU students and buys its agricultural products follows its Agriculture laws and in return.
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Chequers based on a lie? Who would have thought it.
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Same 'negotiators' then agreed to EU officials being stationed in NI.
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@estwebber Two proposals that will reduce the variety of experience and institutional memory in our system to make room for more politicos. Let's noooooooooo.
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The two GFA/BA texts should be set reading for all MPs. They should also be mandatory for BBC NI journalists so they don't come out with nonsense like this. [Ireland is not a 'guarantor' of the GFA/BA still less of the NI Assembly.]
@CJCHowarth @JamieBrysonCPNI This is how our politics has worked since 1998: the PM and Taoiseach are there together because the UK and the Republic of Ireland are legally joint guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement.
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This will not exactly help their appeals?
Excl: Expelled Tory rebels plotting to oust Boris Johnson as an MP by running a candidate against him in his Uxbridge marginal seat.
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Northern Ireland has some of the worst captive trade associations in the UK. They lept to support the Windsor Framework, and are only now asking for details! They really are the NIO's performing seals 🦭 doing tricks in hope of a🐟
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Amazing mile long line of Catalans queuing to vote at their non-embassy in london http://t.co/wfIfDvv4WA.
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So any hint of trade friction on EU 🇪🇺 agricultural imports. we get food price inflation📈 and doom. Any reduction in trade barriers with Australian 🇦🇺 agricultural imports. UK farmers 🚜will perish. Can't be both.
Apparently the UK signing a trade deal with Australia, which has opposite seasons to us remember, is selling out our farmers. I don’t think journalists understand how farms work.
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He is clearing up after your mess. Be polite.
To be fair to him, it's not like anyone warned them. .
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The GFA is not so sacred after all. Irish PM calls for an end to power sharing.
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So the EU can use the Windsor Framework to block UK free trade agreements? Or force UK GB companies not to supply Northern Ireland?
14/ Brazilian beef will only be given “green lane” access if it has already been imported into the EU and cleared for SPS controls at ports such as Rotterdam.
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A deal that leaves EU law in place and the Irish Sea border in place is not a deal that is going to fly. Even this 'green lane' has compliance and checks - so not very green. Hopeless, but then this is the same team that created the NIP so no surprise.
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Lula. Hero of the left.
Zelensky "is as responsible as Putin for the war", Brazil's incoming president, Lula, tells Time. Lula blames Nato for the war, completely ignoring Russian officials' attacks on #Ukraine's national identity. (1)
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Well fundamentally change it then. You have the NIP Bill.
EXCLUSIVE: The Government has received independent legal advice which indicates that meeting the DUP’s demands around the Windsor Framework would require “fundamentally changing” the agreement . ✍️: @AllisonMorris1 .
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Take note: If you want a vote on the PM's replacement do not give them an excuse to take away your membership.
CCHQ: "Campaigning for or endorsement of any other political party is incompatible with membership of the party. The board will not hesitate to enforce these rules.” So it's ready to expel 60% of activists & 40% of councillors.
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