This morning, the media are reporting that the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) has ‘reacted angrily’ to a letter from Theresa May about the Irish border in her eventual Brexit deal. The letter has been leaked to the Times.
But this paints a partial and misleading picture of the DUP receiving May’s letter and its members being unable to restrain themselves from an angry ‘gut reaction’ against the deal.
But the DUP has known since at least the beginning of this week about May’s plan.
A week ago, a SKWAWKBOX contact in Northern Ireland with a strong track record of reliable information contacted this blog to say:
Deal very close. Basically a soft border in the Irish Sea paid for by a £1bn bribe to DUP. Brings a United Ireland a little closer.
Then, on Monday, the same source sent the following information:
May’s got a deal. In my view she’s had this deal for a while and it’s being choreographed to manufacture consent.
It amounts to a soft border in the Irish Sea but the press and DUP seem to be downplaying that fact.
It has holes, UK can opt at anytime etc. No one – UK govt, EU, Ireland – want to be left holding the baby if no deal happens. To avoid the blame for that they have a “compromise of compromises” deal.
UK will opt out in two years when they sign a trade deal with EU. NI will remain in. By then, the Tories calculate they won’t need the DUP.
At the time, the mainstream media were still reporting that the deal would involve the whole UK remaining in the customs union – but a ‘soft border in the Irish sea’ is exactly what has now been ‘revealed’ by the Times and echoed by other ‘MSM’.
The questions media outlets should be asking this morning are not being asked:
- why was this information held back for five days or longer?
- is the outrage genuine, or is the Establishment trying to lower expectations so that some pretend ‘rescue’ will be accepted by the public?
An Irish Sea border has been part of UK/EU Brexit discussions for well over a year, as the SKWAWKBOX revealed at the time.
The DUP received a further £1 billion ‘bung’ in last week’s budget.
The Northern Irish source’s claim that May has “had this deal for a while and it’s being choreographed to manufacture consent” is looking extremely prescient.
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” choreographed to manufacture consent.”
This is the actuality behind all the chaos. The government, faced with a party-political commitment to one of the most stupid, self-harming ideas in history (although useful as a distraction from other policies) is creating smoke.
The intention – the hope that the Great General Public will, when something emerges through the smoke – will wipe it’s brow, and say ‘Phew! Not as bad as we thought. Not such a cliff edge.’
… whilst the country continues the more gradual slide down the slope of impoverishment. Then it’s back to business and blaming the victim.
Labour are also committed to Brexit, they promised to honour the result and we’ve had an election since that confirmed we’re leaving. Just because Soros’ money and 700000 protesters, many of whom were EU citizens and expats don’t like it, along with yourself, doesn’t make it any less real. Given we’d have to leave the EU in any case when any of the following happen: A European army is formed. The EU becomes a federation. The Euro collapses. We’ve had a good clean break without any messiness and maybe we can in the future act as an honest broker between the expansionist EU and Russia when the inevitable doodah hits the fan.
Your fear of a referendum on the actual deal is palpable.
lundiel, what kind of “good clean break” takes four years to get to an as yet theoretical interim arrangement and causes such dissent on all sides?
Why is a SHTF EU v RU scenario inevitable?
Army/Fed/Eurocollapse – same question – on what evidence is the EU led by out-of-control imbeciles?
May’s chosen champions – her finest knights, chosen to fight on her behalf for the UK’s interests, drawn from the cream of the UK’s public school system – all return bloodied, bowed and gibbering having had their arses handed to them by the stupid, incompetent EU.
The object of leaving is freedom of action for Parliament, unrestrained by EU idiocy, right?
Fine if it’s a Labour government – but what if it’s ToryMax – renewed and rebuilt, muscled-up on steroids, red in tooth and claw and out to finish us off for good?
In other words – I’m not sure I agree with your situational assessment.
Oh P..lea..se! George Soros? He has nothing to do with the fact that only just over a third of the electorate voted for the nonsense of Brexit … and that (as you’ve just so eloquently proved), there is no rational argument in favour.
By all means indulge your vivid imagination, but don’t confuse it with reality.
A Corbyn Govt. outside the EU would trounce a Tory Govt. inside the EU! We need an improved industrial strategy more than we need certain trade deals, especially if the EU don’t buy our goods.
I’m struggling to understand how any strategy is going to mitigate the fact that foreign owned manufacturers’ primary reason for investing in the UK was our membership of the EU.
“What’s good for General Motors is good for America”? I thought the whole idea of the Labour Left was an acceptance of the different interests of the economic elite and the working class.
In the EU and EEA democratic socialism is prohibited so that the corporate interest rules the country – regardless of the vagaries of democracy. EEA and EU law makes 1945-style public ownership illegal and bans state support to manufacturing which distorts the single market.
More and more Member States are sadly going to the extreme Right in response to this relentless neoliberalism.
….. but we don’t have the equivalent of a GM do we. <b<All our volume car manufacturers and assembly plants are foreign owned by companies who invested in the UK because we were part of the EU.
Danny, the rise of the far right is one response to the oppression of corporate theft, we’re the other.
Centrism is just pathetic, mute, snivelling acquiescence.
The far right live in the same society as us and share our anger at the society which allows our prosperity to decline instead of improving our lives as was promised.
They see society’s failing them, they just have no clue what to replace it with.
Lacking intellect or education, they’re prey to Trump and other wealthy populists who easily dupe them into believing that the left and ‘the other’ are to blame for their decline.
They’d certainly agree that governments or economic theories that cause hardship instead of steady improvement in the lives of citizens, while allowing a minority to prosper beyond measure, have no legitimacy.
Have we actually tried hard enough to explain the realities to the far right in terms they can understand?
The DUP et al won 25% Ireland by fair and foul means.
But as I am in Liverpool in a pub and an artist has just drawn some people for a small fee – here’s a thought – is Banksy out there – do this and sign them Banksy!
You see we working class people love to have a laugh and this is what the rich hate.
Left wing democratic socialism with FUN!
Oh and in Ireland post Brexit no border in Ireland but 2 entry routes 2 UK – NI walk through & Eire (EC country) show passports. If we democratically have control of labour and capital supply we can as an example to other countries break the chain of Neo- Liberalism. Are we human or are we dancing? X
Pub I’m in Liverpool music great and loud and looked out window and homeless lass outside with blanket around her could hear it – she started dancing – brought a tear to my eye. X
The comments here read just like the Guardian’s, middle class, remain fanatics who think the working class didn’t know what they were voting for and need educating. It’s like a load of Lib Dems sneering at the working class because they know better and can see into the future while ignoring realities of EU membership.
Have you studied the demographics of voters in the referendum, or would that have popped the bubble you seem to exist in?
Exiting the eu has avoiding detailed accounts of offshore investments all over it. Reform never came easy to the eu and democratic socialists have never pushed a socialist agenda hard enough. As a leading war monger leaves Europe Union they will need a group of countries to combine their efforts be they peaceful or not.