Truss' fall leaves the future of the NI protocol bill uncertain
Eoin McCaul
Liz Truss has become the shortest serving Prime Minister in UK history, failing to outlast a 60p head of lettuce as the Daily Star wagered last week.
One of her flagship policies that is relevant to us here in Northern Ireland, is the NI Protocol bill which is currently being read in the House of Lords. Criticised as a breach of international law, the Labour party have vowed to campaign to stop the bill.
The NI Protocol is an arrangement which allows for goods to pass through the Irish border without the need for checks, to avoid a return to the days of a hard border that were seen during the Troubles. However, this has the side effect of requiring goods to be checked when moving from ports in Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK. In effect, this creates a border across the Irish sea and creates what unionists see as an ‘economic united Ireland’.
The NI Protocol bill, which was introduced by Truss back in June, would give the UK government permission to ignore parts of this arrangement in violation of the agreements previously made with the EU after its exit. The DUP welcomed this development as they have opposed the protocol and claim that it is the main hurdle preventing them from restoring devolution.
Jenny Chapman, shadow minister of state in the House of Lords, told the Guardian that the bill was, “undermining the UK’s hard-won reputation as a responsible, trustworthy partner” and urged the government to scrap it.
After Truss was forced to U-turn on all her other policies, such as the scrapping of the 45p income tax rate, and stopping the rise in corporation tax, it remains to be seen whether this bill will suffer the same fate now that her political project stands in complete ruin.
Currently, the DUP are refusing to take their seats in Stormont citing the NI Protocol as their primary concern. If the impasse is not resolved by the 28th of October, then another election will have to be called, but it seems unlikely that it will result in a different outcome.
The DUP have been criticised for using the protocol as cover after the last election saw a nationalist party win the most seats for the first time in Northern Ireland’s history. Naomi Long of the Alliance party said in an interview, “This isn’t just about the protocol, this is about their unwillingness to serve as deputy first minister to a Sinn Fein first minister.”
The successor to replace Truss is due to be in place by the 28th and, at the moment, it’s not unthinkable that Boris Johnson could return – a mere two months after resigning in disgrace.
Whoever inherits the Tory throne will have their work cut out for them after the chaos of the last few weeks. Truss’ popularity plummeted to almost as low as that of Vladimir Putin, with pollsters predicting that if a general election was held the Conservative party would lose so many seats that the Liberal Democrats would overtake them as the official opposition.
No matter who we end up with next week, they will be chosen once again by Conservative members who don’t represent the country as a whole, as the utter madness of the last two months has clearly shown.
It’s difficult to see how the Conservatives can repair the damage that has been done to their reputation – not just under Truss, but also after the endless stream of scandals that was the premiership of Boris Johnson. There is no requirement to hold a general election until January 2025, but a Labour majority seems inevitable under the current circumstances.
For the DUP, this would be disastrous, as a Labour government would be sure to scrap the NI protocol bill and be more open to compromise with the EU who have threatened legal action if it passes.
Eoin McCaul is the Scoop’s head comment editor and a third year Politics, Philosophy and Economics student at Queen’s University Belfast