PAUL MALIK

Something extraordinary happened yesterday, which might not quite get the attention it deserves.

The Northern Ireland Assembly convened for the first time in three years to prevent changes to the country’s abortion laws, unsuccessfully it should be noted, after the floor could not agree a cross-party approved speaker.

This essentially made everyone’s trip to Stormont to stop the “liberalisation” of Northern Irish law on abortion and same-sex marriage a waste of time. Same-sex couples will, finally, be allowed to marry in Northern Ireland from Valentine’s Day 2020.

Earlier this year Westminster MPs passed legislation which requires the government to change abortion laws and extend same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland if devolution had not been restored by yesterday midnight.

Now, one of the cruxes of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s deal with the EU was that Stormont members would vote, every four years essentially, on consent to the arrangement keeping Northern Ireland both an entry point to the EU and a fully fledged member of the UK customs area.

Northern Ireland will still be subject to EU customs alignment, meaning goods coming from the UK entering the island of Ireland – both North and the Republic – will need an EU code.

The consent issue is part of the Good Friday Agreement, essentially allowing the people of Northern Ireland control over their own country’s future.

The DUP opposes the consent part of the Brexit deal because instead of needing cross-party support – as in the case of choosing a speaker for Stormont – all that would be needed is a so-called “simple” majority of MLAs to continue the consent on the arrangement to continue.

In including this, or in some arguments omitting this, Mr Johnson and the government have perhaps shown a misunderstanding of the complexities of the Northern Irish legislative assembly.

When asked in Brussels last week what would happen if Northern Irish consent was ever removed by

Stormont, Euro chiefs including the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar went on in detail about additional transitional periods extending past the removal of said consent, but no real substantial answer was given.

In short, the part which was shouted loudest by Mr Johnson when Mrs May’s deal was being put through is still just as flimsy. It seems a long way off at the moment, but if his deal does pass there are still so many unknowns put down in front of making Brexit a success for the country.

Mr Gove last night addressed parliament on Operation Yellowhammer (if I recall, Mr Gove had somewhat denied the existence of Yellowhammer when it was first leaked in the summer) and how it was being ramped up following the Letwin amendment being approved.

Civil servants are being redeployed, making them sound like the Home Guard or Dad’s Army, while adverts warning about the impact of nodeal will be pumped out in greater numbers from this morning.

He noted, in a worried tone, direct rule could return to Northern Ireland, in the result of no-deal being agreed.

We should be in no doubt the ramifications this could cause and Mr Gove knows it.