Opinion

Newton Emerson: London's timetable for DUP return is slipping

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson writes a twice-weekly column for The Irish News and is a regular commentator on current affairs on radio and television.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson speaks to the media on College Green in Westminster, London, ahead of the debate on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill in the House of Commons. Photo: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson speaks to the media on College Green in Westminster, London, ahead of the debate on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill in the House of Commons. Photo: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson speaks to the media on College Green in Westminster, London, ahead of the debate on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill in the House of Commons. Photo: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire.

London’s timetable for the DUP’s return to Stormont appears to have slipped.

The bill to disapply the protocol had its second reading Monday, by which point the government had wanted the DUP to restore the assembly. Further stages are being fast-tracked to get the bill through the Commons before the July 21 recess, by which point the government had wanted the DUP to restore the executive. All these timings and expectations had been assertively briefed to the press, so the government appears weak for pressing on without DUP movement. There are signs of some movement, however. Careful reading of DUP statements suggests the assembly at least should be back in early September, once the bill is in the House of Lords. TUV leader Jim Allister certainly thinks so. He is already warning of the “danger” of unionism “succumbing to the pressure to jump first.”

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Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has always been careful to call for removal of “the sea border” rather than of the protocol itself. The protocol can only be replaced by another protocol that achieves the same objectives. However, it is plausible that checks for inbound goods remaining in Northern Ireland could be reduced enough to claim there was no sea border within the UK.

The DUP has now published a document in response to the protocol bill entitled “time to remove the Northern Ireland protocol”, so has its rhetorical distinction broken down? Not quite. The conclusion of the document, echoed in an accompanying statement from Sir Jeffrey, is: “All we want is the protocol replaced by arrangements that restore our place within the United Kingdom”.

In other words, the protocol should be replaced, not removed, with another protocol that removes the sea border. It could hardly be clearer.

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A Catholic couple had to flee their south Belfast home after being attacked by a loyalist mob. Police took almost an hour to respond to pleas for help, although officers were on duty nearby. Tuesday’s Irish News led with the victims branding the PSNI “a disgrace”. So it was most unfortunate Tuesday was also the launch of the PSNI’s new ‘Public Engagement Vision’, entitled ‘Here for You’. Unveiled by chief constable Simon Byrne at a media event in Newtownabbey, the vision has five pillars, with the Effective Neighbourhood Policing pillar having eight hallmarks, such as embedding the right culture, engaging neighbourhoods and solving problems.

“The purpose of the hallmarks is to set a framework,” added a press release.

Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton, also present at the launch of this steaming pile of waffle, apologised the next day for the “avoidable delay” in south Belfast.

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All 233 apartments in the Obel Tower, Northern Ireland’s tallest building, may have to be vacated if alleged safety issues are not fixed by the end of the year, the High Court has heard. Whether or not the allegations are correct, the stress, cost and complexity of the case shows the liability placed on individuals who own chunks of high-rise buildings, either as their home or as a small landlord. Even if nothing goes wrong, owners will inevitably face routine maintenance that is effectively civil engineering. The ‘build-to-rent’ model of the developer becoming the only landlord is far more appropriate and increasingly common for high-rise proposals across Belfast.

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There is not going to be a Scottish independence referendum next year, or for years thereafter. The SNP’s latest stunt has only pushed it further away. There will be a general election in the next two years and the Liberal Democrats have named their price for coalition with Labour: electoral reform for Westminster, without requiring a referendum, unlike the party’s 2010 coalition deal with the Tories, where the Alternative Vote referendum the following year was lost.

Electoral reform is thus a likelier constitutional earthquake than Scottish succession, certainly in the short term. The Alternative Vote model was a compromise to try to get the measure passed. Without the requirement for a referendum, the proposal will be for proper proportional representation, all forms of which would benefit smaller parties at the expense of the Conservatives in England, Labour in Wales, the SNP in Scotland and the DUP and Sinn Féin here. There would be other, more novel effects: according to the electoral reform society, the national list system used in many proportional representation systems could see many unionists in Northern Ireland voting Labour and Conservative - and Irish people in Britain voting for Sinn Féin.

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Amid rising concern over the state of central Belfast, the council insists it is urgently recruiting and training more cleansing staff. Yet of the ten jobs it is currently advertising, only one is for cleansing: a ‘mobile public convenience and cleaning operative’, on £20,000 a year - about 90 pence above the minimum wage. Applicants must have at least one year’s experience in an identical role. How would any Belfast resident gain such experience, except with the council? Applicants must also have at least one year’s experience “driving commercial vehicles in an urban environment”.

Anyone with that experience has their pick of better-paid work. Average salaries in Northern Ireland for delivery drivers, couriers and commercial drivers range from £25,000 to £35,000.

Belfast City Council needs to brush up on the new economic reality.