What it does is it creates unnecessary barriers on on Trade East West.
Uh, what we what we can do is fix that.
It's not a big deal.
We can fix it in such a way as to remove those bureaucratic barriers.
Okay, well, let's get a little reaction to that from Studio.
Aoife Moore, to come to you first on this.
It's not a big deal, says Boris um, it's removing the likes of unnecessary
paperwork, he says, on checks between, you know, the
UK and and the North.
There's also the issue around trade disputes now
not involving the European Court of Justice.
It's all a way of simplifying things to please a number of people on this island.
It's not pleasing many people on this island, To be honest, I think
everyone who's been following this would say today that they are disappointed,
but they are not surprised and what's happened?
There is a number of experts already saying that this will face legal
challenges because this does breaking International treaty also will
point out an international treaty that Boris Johnson himself negotiated
and the British government, um passed through their houses.
This is has oven ready deal if you remember back to
that time we heard from Simon Coveney today.
You know, the Minister for foreign Affairs had very
frank words with Let's just this morning.
I think the phone call only lasted 12 minutes and there was a lot
of briefing going along in the Irish government today that they
are deeply unhappy that Brussels is deeply unhappy.
And we had a statement this evening from Maros Šefcovic, who said that
they would be going out going forward with the legal challenge that
they previously had put up against the British government.
And they will be doing that the next few days.
Louise, let's talk about the impact all of this is likely to have and the British government
saying that the action must not seriously impair interests of other states.
Uh, clearly, you would believe that's not the case.
Look, what they're doing is utterly reckless and, you know,
to to come out one day and say, This is this is big.
It's going to fix everything and then the next statement.
It's not a big deal.
It's incredibly destabilising its destabilising for workers.
And we see today that IPTU have a statement out along with the British
TUC and there at one in saying, This is utterly reckless.
It is bad for jobs.
It is bad for business.
It is bad for workers, and it is an appalling way to behave.
And I think you know, there's, you know, there's plenty
of issues that that Neil and I will disagree on.
But on this there is unanimity right across the Parliament and almost bar a very small
amount right across this island that, you know, the protocol has to remain.
The protocol was working.
We could see that with businesses, it was having a positive impact.
There's no need for what Johnson is doing.
And if truth be told, what he's actually doing is he's play
acting for the benefit of his own backbenchers.
This is more about a Tory internal row, and we can't allow the North or, indeed, this
island to become collateral damage in what is effectively an internal party scrap.
Darren McCaffrey.
Is that what it's all about?
An internal party row there within British government?
And this is how it's all playing out?
I'm not entirely sure that's a fair characterisation
that clearly clear, has a part to play in it.
You know, Boris Johnson is unlawful out of political pressure here in London,
clearly from many within the Conservative Party, particularly Brexiteers,
who have always wanted him to go further on the protocol.
So yes, that is part of the picture.
But let's be honest about this as well.
First of all, there is a recognition, I think, on most sides that the
protocol to date has not worked as well as it should have done.
The EU have actually compromised and changed several things to date.
The British government simply want them to go further.
And second of all, there are quite a large section, the majority
of the unionist population in Northern Ireland.
You don't like the protocol in its current form.
They either want to change or scrapped.
The whole point of Northern Irish politics is about consent is clearly not a basis for
consents in the Northern Irish Assembly or amongst Northern Irish politicians.
About all of this.
I saw today that the SDLP were claiming that the majority of MLS for the
protocol, but there's not a majority on both sides, and so the British
government case about protecting the Good Friday agreement is a big part
of that, and there is a direct element of truth as well.
Daryn.
I need to come back to the panel on that Neil Richmond.
This is about protecting the Good Friday agreement.
That's the view from Westminster that certainly
Boris Johnson is, is trying to put out.
It's no big deal and this is a fix.
That's absolute rubbish.
It's nothing to do with the Good Friday agreement.
It's completely to do with internal political
machinations of a conservative government.
That's in a lot of trouble.
Is it about the leadership ambitions lose trust?
Or is it yet another distraction tactic from a prime minister
that has had a tired couple of weeks at the end of day?
What Darren failed to say is there is a majority in the Assembly that boxes protocol
every single business representative group in the North Boxes protocol.
There wasn't consensus when it came to Brexit in the first place
in the north, So to hear the government and you're in London, come
out and say, Well, no, this is about building consensus.
They never saw consensus.
It's absolute ridiculous idea to put it like that