Brexit deal ‘not close’: Senior Tory dampens down prospect of Northern Ireland resolution
A senior Tory MP has dampened down the prospect of a Brexit deal on Northern Ireland, telling Sky News the powersharing crisis will not be resolved because the negotiations are “too narrow”.
Sir Bernard Jenkin, a veteran Eurosceptic, also suggested there should be a “customs frontier” between the north and south of Ireland to fix issues with the contentious protocol.
The mechanism was put in place as part of Boris Johnson’s “oven-ready” Brexit deal to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, which all sides agreed was necessary to preserve peace.
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But unionists are unhappy about the economic barriers it has created on trade being shipped from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, with a customs border effectively imposed in the Irish Sea – something the former prime minister promised would not happen.
Rishi Sunak has been battling to reach a new deal on the post-Brexit arrangements, but Sir Bernard played down suggestions a breakthrough could be days away.
Asked how close a deal is he said: “I fear not very close, because what’s been happening is the government has been strenuously trying to reach an agreement, but within very narrow confines.
“The EU has said they won’t consider reopening their mandate to look at new ways of approaching the whole question of Northern Ireland post-Brexit, and the consequence is that the negotiations have been on a very narrow mandate set by the EU and it doesn’t look as though the government can resolve the powersharing crisis with any deal that will emerge from these negotiations.“
The powersharing crisis relates to the ongoing protest by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Belfast of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The DUP argues the protocol compromises Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and has refused to co-operate with forming a devolved government in Stormont until it is abandoned or replaced.
Sir Bernard Jenkin called for a trade border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
There is also anger over the so-called “democratic deficit” caused by Northern Ireland still being subject to some EU rules so that goods can move freely into the Republic of Ireland – which the DUP and Tory MPs see as an erosion of the UK’s sovereignty and incompatible with the aims of Brexit.
Deal that doesn’t remove protocol ‘unconscionable’
Sir Bernard suggested the only way to restore powersharing – a founding principle of the Good Friday Agreement – was for the protocol to be axed and replaced with a trade border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
He said the government should revisit a ditched proposal from the 2020 negotiations for an “invisible north-south border”.
“The obvious answer is to go back to that proposal now that we have unlimited time, and aim towards creating a customs frontier between (Northern) Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but without actual checks or infrastructure at the border,” he said.
Sir Bernard used the fact there are no border checks on people to support his idea.
“It should not be too difficult to have a customs frontier without infrastructure,” he added.
Asked what that would mean for the Good Friday Agreement – which promised to keep the border open – Sir Bernard said it would “actually restore it”.
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Sky’s David Blevins explains issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol
“The collapse of the Good Friday Agreement is an absolute catastrophe of political tensions arising. There’s nobody objecting in Northern Ireland to the border being in a different place or there being different arrangements to deal with this issue.”
Sir Bernard – a member of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs – went on to criticise Labour for suggesting they would support a deal without seeing the details first, saying it would be “unconscionable to sign an agreement with the EU that cements in place the protocol”.
Read more:
What is the Northern Ireland Protocol and why does it matter?
What is the Brexit deal being discussed between UK and EU?
Labour: ‘Sunak can rely on us for support’
However, shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry doubled down on this position – saying Mr Sunak does not need to worry about the Eurosceptic factions of his party scuppering a deal if he brings an agreement forward to parliament for a vote.
“The prime minister can rely on us to support him,” she told Sky News.
“He doesn’t have to negotiate with his head-bangers in the Tory party who – I don’t know what they want – but whatever they want is not in the country’s interests.
“We need to come to a solution and the government can, if it’s in the interests of the country, rely on us.”
Ms Thornberry agreed there should not be a border in the Irish Sea – as is currently the case – but rather a “soft” border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
She did not provide details on how this would work – rather just saying it would be “as soft” and “as discreet” as possible.
Sunak ‘won’t sell anyone out’
Meanwhile, veterans affairs minister Johnny Mercer defended Mr Sunak’s approach, saying he had “good discussions last week with the European Union” and had “good engagement going on with other MPs”.
He told Sky News: “Let’s give the prime minister a chance to come out with something.
“He’s attacking this, he is throwing everything he can. He voted for and campaigned hard for Brexit, right?
“So he is not going to sell anyone out or come up with a solution that is unfair or doesn’t deliver on what he thinks is Brexit.”
World
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
Read more:
Azerbaijan president hails oil and gas as ‘gift from God’
UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’
The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
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‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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