I’m constantly amused by the current nonsense from the numpties of the DUP. They refuse to allow a trade barrier to be erected down the Irish Sea but insist on a time line which keeps Northern Ireland in some sort of cultural bubble. They happily take £1billion as the bribe to prop up the tories and insist there can be no difference between them and the mainland unless you are gay, want an abortion or quite like the idea of elected politicians actually getting on with running the Assembly. Just pause for a moment and imagine if the SNP were to be blocking Holyrood from working for over a year. Something tells me that the BBC and the rest of the media would be just a trifle more critical than they are of these representatives of the 17th century. At least that time frame is something they have in common with Jacob Rees-Mogg. They might also do us all a favour and explain the Good Friday Agreement to the Tories and in particular those representing Scottish Constituencies.
But as we listen ad nauseum to the PM (current but perhaps not by the time you read this) burble on about “our precious union” I wonder more and more when the long suffering majority in N Ireland will actually be treated as equal. There was some progress last Wednesday when a Private Member’s Bill by Labour’s Diane Johnson MP cleared the first stage with a majority of 208 – 123. This however is only the first stage and it will be interesting to see if the 15 Tories actually stay the course on this important issue.
It does however highlight yet another of the list of britnat hypocrisies which snakes along like a caravan heading for the US border.
If, a big if, “our precious union” is so important, why don’t the britnat parties do the simple thing and offer the people of N Ireland the same opportunity they do to the rest of us i.e. the chance to actually vote for the Tory, Labour or LibDem parties? If it’s so important that the economic future of Scotland, England and Wales can be further jeopardised in this Brexit fantasy, why not run candidates and allow people there to vote on the same issues as everyone else?
It’s bad enough in Scotland that we have a government which we rejected at the polls, the people of N Ireland don’t even get the chance to reject them! They are stuck with Governments which they simply cannot vote for or against! While MPs play political games around abortion they ignore the more fundamental failing of politics there.
Call me a cynic if you wish, but I strongly suspect that Theresa May will come back with a deal very shortly after the Budget votes at the end of the week. The threats of the DUP to vote against the budget will have been seen off and the Tories will sell them out on the border issue. OK, coming back from the hastily re-arranged November Summit with a deal is one thing, getting it through Parliament is something else. But the DUP’s “blood red lines” will have been crossed, their claws drawn and it will be interesting to see if they then really have the confidence to go back to their constituents.
The 17th century MPs could be about to meet their 21st century constituents if this poll and others, is anything to go by.
On a completely different note; just as the EU looks set to scrap this nonsense of putting the clocks back next year, we’re committing the insanity of Brexit and no doubt the little Englanders will want to take back control of their own time!