Secret letter to end backstop nonsense
MANY of us thought we had seen the backside of the Irish Backstop – but it is back in full anti-British malign force. Basically this ludicrous capitulation by Theresa May has no benefit for the EU at all but would cause huge damage to Britain. But the mandarins of Brussels are covertly terrified that if the UK leaves and then prospers it would set a terrible example. Others, as the EU economy slips further and further behind ours, would think, “Why not us too?” Not the bureaucrats of course, but the teeming unemployed – who all have votes. Hence the brief of Michel Barnier – humiliate and diminish the UK.
Now there is a secret letter circulating between the Houses of Commons and Lords and Whitehall. And it is generating a very lively interest. It is written by Lord David James of Blackheath, a peer who is steeped in our constitution – that ancient constitution that some media numpties say we do not have but which we most certainly do. It evokes the Vienna Accord on the Law of Treaties.
THIS document which of course we all read over breakfast has been signed by every member of the EU bar France and by the EU itself. So it is international law. Two of its clauses absolutely forbid any member nation (the EU) to force another member (the UK) to sign a document which would breach the constitution of the second nation.
But that is exactly what the Irish Backstop would do. It would force a severance between Northern Ireland and the UK mainland, which is against our constitution, which would make it illegal in international law.
The Vienna Accord is backed by the United Nations, which is also a court of law, and outranks the EU in matters legal. Should we not invoke it? When we had a May-led Remainer government, no chance. But now?
COUNTRIES in northern Europe every winter experience snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures. Yet the planes fly, the trains roll and the highways are gritted and swept. Life goes on without a hitch. In the deep south summers are broiling, with temperatures at tropical levels for a few weeks. The locals put up their awnings and serve cool drinks to the tourists. Nothing melts, nothing collapses.
So why is it that if our public services experience a few degrees of temperature above or below the norm the roads melt or crack, the trains grind to a halt and the airports resemble refugee centres? There is a strong temptation to adopt the view that our public administration could not organise a family between two rabbits.
Yet it was not always so. There was a time when, if you wanted something to run smoothly in all conditions, the cry went up: bring in the Brits. The only possible explanation lies in the quality of the administrators. The more ponderous the job title and the bigger the salary the more long-winded the explanation and the worse the service. But so long as political correctness is maintained no bungling fool ever gets a P45.