‘What about Corsica in France?’ – Raab attacks EU leaders ‘who see N Ireland as different to UK’

Published

4 years ago

June 13, 2021

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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has called for “a bit of respect” from EU leaders as he claimed the bloc’s senior figures “serially” talk about Northern Ireland “as if it were somehow a different country from the UK”.

The UK and EU are currently at loggerheads over the implementation of post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland – known as the Northern Ireland Protocol – ahead of the end of a “grace period” for some border checks at the end of this month.

The row has threatened to overshadow the UK’s hosting of the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, this weekend – during which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed some in the EU needed to “get into their heads” that the UK is a single country.

The prime minister’s ire is reported to have been raised during his bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday morning.

Mr Johnson is said to have attempted to explain his frustration with the protocol by asking what Mr Macron would do if sausages from Toulouse could not be moved to Paris.

The French president was claimed to have responded by arguing the comparison did not work because Paris and Toulouse were both part of the same country, thereby suggesting Northern Ireland is not within the UK.

Asked by Sky News at the G7 summit if those reports were true, Mr Raab said “as a matter of diplomatic profession” he would not “spill the beans”.

But he added: “No one should be surprised by these reports and it’s not just one figure.

“We have serially seen senior EU figures talk about Northern Ireland as if it were somehow a different country from the UK.

“That is not only offensive, it has real world effects on the communities in Northern Ireland – it creates great concern, great consternation.

“Could you imagine if we talked about Catalonia, the Flemish part of Belgium, one of the Lander in Germany, northern Italy, Corsica in France as different countries?

“We need a bit of respect here and also, frankly, a bit of appreciation of the situation for all communities in Northern Ireland.”

Mr Raab claimed the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol had been “very lopsided”, which had had “real life effects” on people in Northern Ireland.

Politics

‘No doubt’ UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

Published

4 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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'No doubt' UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

There is “no doubt” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said.

John Healey’s comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday.

This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a “clear ambition” to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament “subject to economic and fiscal conditions”.

Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a “certain decade of rising defence spending” to come, adding that this commitment “allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”

A government source insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition”, rather than making a new commitment.

The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.

This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine.

The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances.

While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge.

A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary’s comments.

The statement reads: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.

“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”

Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general.

The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we’re told will “better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster”.

On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention.

Mr Healey pledged to “turn round what has been a national scandal for decades”, with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation.

He said: “The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing.

“In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we’ve got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well.

“So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future.”