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Northern Ireland Protocol impasse continues
It was hoped the Prime Minister may have been able to announce that a deal had been agreed this week on post-Brexit trading rules in Northern Ireland, but no such agreement has reared its head.
The NI Protocol – a trading arrangement drawn up for the province following the UK’s exit from the EU – allows goods to be transported across the Irish land border without the need for checks, but the UK Government is seeking to change it to make it easier for goods to flow from Great Britain to NI.
The Democratic Unionist Party have refused to join the powersharing agreement at Stormont because of their opposition to the protocol.
Sunak dodged questions over the matter at PMQs on Wednesday, while a rebellion is brewing over plans to ditch the protocol, with senior Tories voicing concerns a new agreement would make concessions to the EU which they consider unacceptable.
The government has indicated that a successful outcome would mean the protocol bill would no longer be required, something which Boris Johnson has suggested would be a “great mistake”.
What was that about an oven-ready Brexit deal?
Deposit Return Scheme ‘worse than Brexit’
Well it would appear Tory minister Penny Mordaunt was at least admitting there have been negative impacts to Brexit this week, but she then suggested they would pale in comparison to the effects of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) set to be introduced in Scotland.
The Commons leader felt it appropriate to hit out at the DRS after she was told Scots had not voted to leave the EU, or for her party since the 1950s.
In response to a question from the SNP’s Gavin Newlands, she said: "Even the most outrageous claims about the supposedly negative impacts of leaving the EU, made by the most fanatical rejoiners, cannot compare to the damage that will be done to the UK’s internal market, to producers and businesses in Scotland, and to the cost of living for the [Newlands’s] constituents by the SNP’s DRS.”
The DRS will see shoppers charged an additional 20p on every drink they buy in either a glass or plastic bottle or in a can, with that being returned when customers take empty containers back to where they bought them from.
Flynn and Sunak clash over energy bills
The UK Government were accused of “raiding the pockets of ordinary Scots whilst lining the pockets of Westminster” by the SNP.
Westminster leader Stephen Flynn called on Sunak to protect households, laying out that wholesale gas prices have fallen by 75% since their peak, yet energy bills were due to rise by £500 in weeks, with the limit on bills under the energy price guarantee due to rise from April 1.
Sunak simply said his party were already saving households £900 as a result of the guarantee and insisted the best way to reduce bills was to halve inflation, so apparently we are to let him get on with that mission.
AOB
On the SNP leadership contest, a Scotland Office minister claimed infighting in the party was the “most savage since the Blair-Brown civil war”, while Scottish Secretary Alister Jack insisted the next first minister should take up the chance to “reset the relationship with the UK Government”.
Meanwhile, Starmer was busy this week setting out five “national missions” for a Labour government while denying he had ditched 10 pledges which were set out during his leadership election. Once again, people are finding it hard to trust Labour with their constant to-and-fro over direction and purpose.
Tory MP Desmond Swayne slams accusations that Brexit has led to food supply chain issues in the U.K. “If only we’d been told before voting for Brexit that it would cause frost in Morocco” pic.twitter.com/juncJnBWxo
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) February 23, 2023
Finally, Tory MP Desmond Swayne slammed accusations Brexit had led to food supply chain issues in the UK with the UK’s exit from the bloc blamed for supermarkets having a lack of vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers.
He shouted across the House: “If only we’d been told before voting for Brexit that it would cause frost in Morocco”
