Hello and welcome back to the Weekly Digest politics blog. A weekly round up of most of the big stories in the world of politics from N Ireland, U.K. and USA. As the headline would suggest, I’ll be having wry look at those controversial, headline grabbing and distraction inducing claims by Boris Johnston about the feasibility of building a bridge between N Ireland and Scotland. He does indeed need to build bridges but more in the metaphorical sense, perhaps? There has been plenty of other political goings on to keep me exercised this week, too, however! So, without further ado, let us begin right here in our favourite little political backwater – Northern Ireland.
An increasingly rattled DUP, appear to be making overtures to their rival unionist parties about the possibility of entering into a unionist voting pact at the next Assembly elections in 2022. In a statement, Alex Easton, DUP MLA, warned that “unless all unionist parties come together and agree an electoral pact for the 2022 NI Assembly Elections it will be difficult to remove the NI Protocol”. He argued that extra unionist seats could be won in several key constituencies and that there was “a window of opportunity for all unionism’s political leaders to agree an election pact” so that “we can all sing from the same hymn sheet”.
The responses from the other unionist parties, the UUP and TUV, ranged from openly dismissive to very lukewarm. The UUP said: “Unionism should be concentrating its political energy on removing the deeply unfair and disproportionate protocol which is the direct result of the DUP’s disastrous dalliances with Boris Johnson and the ERG.” The TUV, on the other hand replied that it had “outlined a plan of political action necessary to disrupt the protocol which we believe would force a re-think on the issue now but come the next Assembly election TUV will, of course, be encouraging voters to transfer to other parties which take a clear position of opposition to the protocol”.
Even if unionists were to achieve a majority in next year’s election, which is highly unlikely, there is no guarantee that the Irish Sea border would then be removed anyway. In NI, recent electoral pacts have only served to polarise and sectarianise voting between the two main communities. Unionists will need to be mindful that the numbers are beginning to work inexorably against them in a straight sectarian headcount, as the census currently underway should prove beyond any doubt.
As you may be aware, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the existence of the state of Northern Ireland. How to mark this anniversary, as with many things here, is proving to be very difficult and fraught with controversy at every turn. For some, it’s a reason to celebrate, and for some it’s an opportunity to bring people from different communities together to celebrate the common bonds that unite us (there are plenty, believe it or not!). For others, the focus should be on commemoration and reflection, rather than celebration, and for others still, they will not want to mark the anniversary in any way, aside from rueing the state’s existence at all. It is within this context, therefore, that the U.K. government this week announced a programme of events to mark the anniversary. The NI Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis said it would provide an “opportunity for us all to reflect on the history of N Ireland and to take pride in all that this fantastic place has to offer!” Prime Minister, Boris Johnston added – “2021 marks 100 years since the creation of Northern Ireland, which has paved the way for the formation of the U.K. as we know it.” He also said the centenary programme would champion young people and also pay tribute to those who worked tirelessly to support the region during the pandemic.
Events will include an international church service involving all of the main denominations, a school tree planting project, a civic event at Belfast City Hall, a reception at Hillsborough Castle, the planting of a specially created centenary rose and a celebratory open air concert event, among other things. Predictably perhaps, it received a warm welcome from political representatives on the Unionist side of the divide but the reception from prominent figures within Nationalism was much cooler. SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood observed that while acknowledging that “there should be space for people to commemorate that aspect of their identity….. for others, partition was, and remains, a traumatic constitutional event that kick started decades of discrimination.” And therein lies the problem. In a place of political, cultural and religious hypersensitivity, where offence can be found and taken at the slightest faux pas, I really don’t envy the job of any government official trying to put this together. We’ve already had controversy around the decision by the NI Office to use the image of poet laureate, Seamus Heaney, in the some of the earlier promotional material, apparently without consulting his family first.
Boris Johnson made a whirlwind visit to N Ireland this week, taking in a number of venues, highlighting the vaccine rollout in Fermanagh and the scientific research work that’s been done at Queen’s University Belfast in the battle against the virus. Mr Johnson was joined by DUP leader, Arlene Foster and Health Minister, Robin Swann at the vaccination centre in the Lakeland Forum in Enniskillen. Deputy First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, was conspicuous by her absence, however, after refusing to meet with the PM, after he allegedly refused the request for a joint meeting with O’Neill and SF President, Mary Lou McDonald. He did, however, meet with Arlene Foster, who described their conversation as “frank”. She said she urged him to “stand up for Northern Ireland” and ditch the “intolerable protocol” governing Irish Sea trade post-Brexit! No surprises, there! Mrs Foster claimed Mr Johnson was “in listening mode”. That may be wishful thinking on her part if recent history is anything to go by!
And speaking of that bridge to Scotland. The Irish Sea Bridge, sometimes called the Celtic Crossing by the media, is a rail and road bridge that is under proposal by the UK government, that would span the Irish Sea and connect the island of Ireland to the island of Great Britain. Leaked documents emerged on Tuesday that revealed that Johnson had ordered government officials to explore the possibility of building the bridge. On Thursday, Mr Johnson told some schoolchildren: “[I was talking yesterday] about building a bridge from Stranraer in Scotland to Larne in Northern Ireland – that would be very good. It would only cost about £15bn.”
Johnson first floated the idea in an interview last year, saying: “What we need to do is build a bridge between our islands. Why don’t we? Why don’t we?” Clearly, he thinks it’s a way to placate Unionists in NI who feel let down by the imposition of the Irish Sea customs border and NI Protocol. It is very coincidental that the topic seems to re-emerge every time their appears to be a pinch point in his relationship with the DUP. A sort of ‘dangling a carrot on the end of a stick’ type ploy! The DUP may need to realise they are never meant to reach the carrot, and even if they do, it’s probably made of plastic anyway!
However, his proposal has drawn criticism, with one retired engineer comparing the feasibility of the plan to “building a bridge to the moon”. Last year, James Duncan, from Edinburgh, raised concerns over the practicality of constructing a bridge across the “stormy” stretch of water – more than 1,000ft deep in places – which would require dozens of support towers at heights “never achieved anywhere in the world”. (Think Eiffel Tower sort of height, or worse!) Bridge builders would also have to navigate Beaufort’s Dyke, a submarine trench in which the Ministry of Defence dumped more than 1m tonnes of unused ordnance following the end of the second world war. Then there’s the regular stormy conditions to think of. I think I’m starting to feel a bit queasy already! 🤢 As London Mayor, Boris authorised feasibility studies, engineer’s reports and consultations into the creation of a now infamous garden bridge vanity project that never materialised, wasting £millions in the process. This project, too, will most likely end up like that. Boris is a bluffer, and worse still, I suspect he is simply cynically playing Unionists, yet again, by using a fantasy bridge to assert his unionist credentials. If this ever happens in my lifetime, I will eat my prized Tottenham Hotspur cap!
Now for two little NI political snippets that may have gone somewhat under the radar this week. First, there was Arlene Foster telling the NI Assembly that Irish language legislation will be brought forward before the next election, and she even ended her statement as gaeilge, by saying “sin é”, meaning ‘that’s it’. What would Gregory Campbell make of it all? He may get even more exercised when he realises that the real story here is the haste with which this legislation is now being pushed through Stormont! Resident Stormont curmudgeon, Jim Allister is also sure to use this against the already under pressure DUP in the run up to the next Assembly election. The second little snippet involves wee Jim and Deputy First Minister, Michelle O’Neill. It was revealed this week, after some Jim Allister probing, that Ms O’Neill had to reimburse the Executive Office to the tune of £119.87 for using her official executive car to attend the funeral of veteran Republican Bobby Storey. Is that story (not Storey) ever going to go away?! 🤷🏻♂️
Okay, let’s leave N Ireland and see what’s been going down in Westminster this week. UK trade to the EU plummeted by £5.6 billion as post-Brexit border chaos prompted a huge drop in goods being exported to the continent. Official figures this week confirmed a 41% drop in trade across the channel during January, the first month after the end of the transition period. And they revealed a 2.9% drop in GDP in the same month.
And while officials had previously been hesitant to blame Brexit for the fall in trade, they say today’s figures show evidence that customs disruption was behind some of the fall. “External evidence suggests some of the slower trade for goods in early January 2021 could be attributable to disruption caused by the end of the transition period,” the ONS said. It said the weak figures likely reflected a lull after stockpiling in November and December ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period and it also pointed to a new national coronavirus lockdown in Britain that started in January. “All of these are potential contributing factors to the fall in January trade in goods,” the ONS said. Whatever way you look at it, this is a perfect storm, economically speaking. Could there ever have been a worse time to pursue a hard Brexit? 🤦🏻♂️
Michael Gove announced that the UK will postpone border checks on imports from the European Union in order to give businesses more time to prepare for the explosion of post-Brexit red tape. The EU, meanwhile, is just days away from launching legal action against the UK after London said it was unilaterally extending a series of “grace periods” to allow businesses in Northern Ireland more time to adapt to post-Brexit rules. Mr Gove blamed the decision to add further delays on the pandemic, with full border control processes now only beginning on January 1 2022! Mr Gove told MPs that the initial timetable was based on the impacts of the first wave of coronavirus, but that “we know now that the disruption caused by Covid has lasted longer and has been deeper than we anticipated”. There is no doubt that the pandemic lockdowns could not have come at a worse time, economically speaking, but to suggest that it is the sole or biggest contributory factor to the UK’s current trading chaos and subsequent slump, is highly disingenuous! (That’s just a nicer way of saying dishonest!) In truth, it’s a perfect storm of a combination of factors, of which the pandemic is just one. A poorly planned and badly implemented hard Brexit, along with a blind refusal to accept the realities of what a hard Brexit actually entails, has been arguably a much greater contributing factor.
For once, MPs sat in silence this week as they heard Jess Phillips MP, read out a long list of women who have been killed by men in the last year. In what has become a sobering annual event to mark International Women’s Day, the Labour MP read out more than 110 names in a sombre bid to help ensure “the scale of male violence against women can be known”. There was a profound irony in the fact that International Women’s Day occurred in the same week as the grim discovery of the body of Sarah Everard, a young woman who was abducted and murdered while simply walking home from a friend’s house in Clapham, South London. The case attracted huge media interest and has led to an outpouring of sorrow and righteous anger from women’s groups and women of all shades and from right across the political spectrum.
Earlier in the week it became increasingly clear that people up and down the UK wanted to hold vigils for Sarah Everard. Women in London, organising under the Reclaim These Streets banner, approached Metropolitan Police commanders for their cooperation in setting up a socially distanced vigil on Clapham Common in south London, close to where Ms Everard was last seen alive. The police refused to give permission for the event and said a demo would be illegal under the coronavirus lockdown regulations. This resulted in a legal challenge without a clear cut outcome.
As it transpired, then, several hundred people, mainly women, turned up for the vigil in defiance of the police advice. To add to the general unease with the police’s approach to this, there had been severe criticism levelled at the Met for their handling of the Everard investigation, particularly the revelation that the arrested male suspect, a serving Met police officer, was released from custody only days prior to the murder after being charged with indecent exposure! So, the police were already under some pressure. This appears to have been compounded now after distressing scenes as police officers moved in in large numbers to disperse the crowd at the vigil, resulting in a number of violent confrontations and arrests. The vigil had been understandably emotionally charged but very peaceful up until that point. Police tactics have been heavily criticised and there have even been calls for Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to resign. Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, fell short of calling for her resignation but stated that he was disturbed by what he had seen and was shocked at the police handling of the event. He demanded a full investigation! There is indeed a bitter irony in a vigil being held in protest at violence against women at the hands of men, which is then met by an over zealous and heavy handed response by overwhelmingly male police officers against peacefully assembled women! This must go down as an epic fail by the Metropolitan Police, whatever way you look at it!
The political row over the government’s derisory pay offer for nurses and healthcare workers has rumbled on this week. The Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, admonished the Prime Minister after he stated to the Commons chamber that Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer had previously voted against a 2.1% pay rise for nurses. In fact, the Bill containing the measure – which has now been binned after the PM offered just 1% instead, actually passed last year with no dissent from the Labour front bench! However, despite making a claim that is patently untrue, Johnson has refused to retract it or correct the record. His Press Secretary Allegra Stratton claimed the Prime Minister did not need to correct the record because Sir Lindsay, as Speaker, had said it was “clarified”. Sir Lindsay, however, rubbished that suggestion, telling MPs: “All members should correct the record if they make an inaccurate statement to the House.” So, did the PM deliberately make a false claim about Starmer and Labour to the House? In other words, did he wilfully tell lies, to make his political opponents look bad? A model of honesty and integrity, like Boris? Surely not! Perish the very thought! How very dare you even think such a thing! Is that the whiff of some burning pants? 🧐
Starmer, of course, was expected to make hay over the nurses pay offer this week. Politically speaking, it should have provided an open goal for a Labour Party that is still trailing the Conservatives in the latest opinion polls, despite the Tories disastrous handling of the pandemic response, Brexit and the economy. Starmer is desperate for a PR victory. However, despite the widespread public support for the nurses pay claims, Starmer still failed to capitalise on it fully. The Labour leader this week put the row over nurses’ pay at the heart of the party’s local election campaign, vowing to fight for a real pay rise for NHS heroes rather than a below-inflation boost. Keir Starmer has called for nurses to receive a pay hike of at least 2.1% but fell short of backing demands for a higher pay boost demanded by the unions. I think it’s fair to say, he landed a couple of rasping jabs on the Tories this week, rather than any knockout blows!
Another week, another resignation by a government adviser! You’ve probably heard of the so called ‘hostile environment’ adopted by the government towards illegal migrants, which resulted in the Windrush scandal. Well, now we have the LGBTQ+ ‘hostile environment’!
Jayne Ozanne, a key member of the government’s LGBTQ+ advisory panel, has resigned, citing the government’s failure to ban so-called ‘gay conversion therapy’. In a damning statement, Ms Ozanne said LGBTQ+ people feared a return to “the days of Thatcher, the days of Section 28” – and that people didn’t believe the Tory government had their interests at heart.
She said the government considered people arguing for LGBT+ rights were “woke” – and had introduced “a Trumpesque mode of operation where they’re listening to the right-wing evangelicals and those frankly who want to take us back.” “I’ve been increasingly concerned about what is seen to be a hostile environment for LGBT people among this administration.” And she reserved most of her opprobrium for what she called the “ministers for inequality” Kemi Badenoch and Liz Truss, in particular, branding them “ignorant.” Ouch! 🙈
A clearly rattled Equalities Minister, Liz Truss, was stung into responding and said the government will bring forward plans to ban gay conversion therapy “shortly”. Jayne Ozanne welcomed the commitment, but said she wasn’t “holding her breath” on the outcome.
Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, had to rebuff suggestions this week by a former SAGE adviser that his policies had significantly contributed to the second wave of the coronavirus in the U.K. The Chancellor has been criticised for his apparent resistance to introducing stricter lockdown measures last year. And now research has linked his flagship “Eat Out To Help Out” programme to an increase of Covid-19 cases of between 8 and 17 per cent. The Times reported the Sage adviser blaming the Chancellor for his “one-eyed” approach – putting the nation’s finances above the risk to lives. The source reportedly said: “I thought the chancellor was in charge. He was the main person who was responsible for the second wave.” Replying to the comments, Mr Sunak claimed that “at all steps in this crisis we have indeed taken the advice of our scientific advisers”.
And so to America! Let’s see what’s been happening Stateside, shall we? I’ll begin in one of the states that hit the headlines during the presidential election – Georgia!
Georgia’s state Senate on Monday passed an election bill that would repeal ‘no-excuse absentee voting’, among other sweeping changes in the critical swing state. The legislation, which has been championed by state Republican lawmakers, passed in 29-20. It now heads to the Georgia House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass in the coming weeks. The bill is being heavily criticised as disproportionately affecting black voters.
The bill comes as Georgia has become the testing ground for election law changes in the wake of the 2020 election. Republicans in the state, citing baseless allegations of voter fraud pushed by Donald Trump and others, have moved to restrict access to early and mail in voting. Around the country, other Republican-controlled state legislatures are also using the election falsehoods to launch assaults on people’s voting rights. In an obvious bid to counter these voter suppression tactics by the GOP, the Democrats Last week passed HR1, also know as the “For the People Act,” a sweeping government, ethics and election bill aimed at countering state-level Republican efforts to restrict voting access. The legislation would bar states from restricting the ability to vote by mail and, among other provisions, call for states to use independent redistricting commissions to create congressional district boundaries. Then, this week, Presiden Biden signed an Executive Order expanding voting access and directing the heads of all federal agencies to submit proposals for their respective agencies to promote voter registration and participation within 200 days, while assisting states in voter registration under the National Voter Registration Act. Clearly, the ramifications and reverberations of the manufactured controversy around alleged voter fraud in the recent presidential election will be felt and contested for some time to come.
The city of Minneapolis has reached a $27m (£19m) settlement with the family of George Floyd, the unarmed US black man whose death last May sparked protests worldwide. The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to approve the pre-trial settlement, the largest ever awarded in the state of Minnesota. “That the largest pre-trial settlement in a wrongful death case ever would be for the life of a black man sends a powerful message that black lives do matter and police brutality against people of colour must end,” said Floyd family attorney Ben Crump.
President Joe Biden has identified two landmark days on the calendars of all Americans – May 1st and July 4th! By the first date, he wants states to have identified every adult eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine. And if all goes well, sufficient citizens will be immunised by US Independence Day, to allow appropriate celebrations to take place.
This is a highly ambitious target and Biden is taking a gamble; setting dates by which you can be judged is always risky and generally avoided in politics. The pandemic has long confounded expectations and, with the help of new viral mutations, no one can really know when it will end. Still, as with the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill covered here last week, you’ve got to admire Joe’s sheer ambition and can do attitude!
But Biden may not be as far out on a limb as he appears. With a current rate of more than 2 million vaccines per day, he’s easily going to make his initial projection to inject 100 million doses in his first 100 days. At least 69 million Americans have already had one dose of vaccine and more than 37 million are fully vaccinated. Many states may have already expanded the eligibility for vaccines themselves by May 1. That would make Biden’s pledge not seem as risky as it would first appear, as long as the virus itself doesn’t throw him any new curve balls in the meantime!
I wrote about Joe Biden’s Covid Rescue Bill last week, but the $1.9tn landmark piece of legislation of FDR proportions, deserves another mention as it passed its final hurdle in Congress.
The House of Representatives approved the massive economic aid plan 220-211 along predictable partisan lines, with no Republicans voting in favour. Having already passed through the Senate, the relief package just needs to be signed into law by Mr Biden himself. The bill “is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance” Mr Biden said. If the record amounts of spending boost the economy – without overheating it – the president could reap the political benefits of a revitalised nation. And because Democrats enacted the legislation with no assistance from Republicans, it may also prove to be an effective stick to beat them with in upcoming elections, particularly those often treacherous mid-terms! Just ask Obama!
Where Joe Biden might be on shakier ground is in his continuing tacit support for Andrew Cuomo, the beleaguered Governor of New York, who faces multiple allegations of sexual impropriety from numerous women. Biden has stated that he will continue working with Cuomo on the pandemic response and other matters, despite finding the recent spate of sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Cuomo “troubling” and “hard to read”. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Mr Biden has not spoken with Mr Cuomo directly since accusations of sexual misconduct and hostile workplace behaviour against the governor have surfaced. “Like everyone who continues to read stories – and new developments seem to happen every day – we find them troubling, the president finds them troubling, hard to read,” Ms Psaki said. “Every woman who steps forward needs to be treated with dignity and respect.” Psaki also stated that the New York Attorney General is conducting an independent review of Mr Cuomo’s actions, which the Biden administration supports.
I’ll end on foreign affairs. Tariffs and trade restrictions won’t be high on the agenda at the first bilateral meeting between Chinese diplomats and President Joe Biden’s team in Alaska, this week, apparently, and Beijing’s poor compliance with the trade deal it struck last year also appears off the table. However, the sides are expected to discuss a number of contentious issues with big commercial consequences, like human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The US State Department has promised a “difficult” discussion that will hit on some trade-adjacent items like technology and the Communist Party’s ongoing repression of ethnic Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, which the U.S. has already labelled a genocide. The Chinese government countered the U.S. narrative, with a Communist Party analyst telling the Global Times “tarrifs will definitely be on the table!” and the issue is “impossible to avoid.” But the state-backed news outlet also acknowledged trade issues won’t be the focus of the meeting, which is “more about the general diplomatic relationship.” The Senate has yet to confirm Trade Representative nominee Katherine Tai, they point out, which could happen as early as this week. The administration likely wants to avoid talking specifics on trade until Tai is in place.
The first China summit of Biden’s term will come less than a week after his team moved to solidify ties with Beijing’s regional rivals. Last week, the U.S., Australia, Japan and India signed a symbolic alliance, labelling themselves a ‘Quad’ of democratic nations committed to “promoting a free, open rules-based order,” as well as promoting vaccine production and distribution in Asia. The group is seen as a powerful counterweight to Chinese dominance and aggression in the region.
However, the Chinese government appears unimpressed by Biden’s push, with foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian saying nations should “refrain from forming closed and exclusive ‘cliques.’” The editor of the Global Times was more blunt, saying the pact won’t help “India encroach one inch of China’s territory,” or help “Japan drive away China’s coast guard vessels.” It is a “low-quality strategic construction” that “serves more as psychological comfort,” Well, that’s them told! It would appear that the Chinese aren’t that easily intimidated!
Well, that’s my lot for this week, folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed keeping up to date with what’s been going on in the world of politics in NI, UK and USA albeit through my very particular and tilted lense! Please feel free to share and please do return for next week’s instalment. Until then, stay informed, stay tuned in and stay safe out there! Adios! 👋🏻
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