Suella Braverman has scored a hat-trick of own goals and displayed breathtaking ignorance on Northern Ireland

Published

1 year ago

November 9, 2023

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This is much more than an own goal by the home secretary. It is a hat-trick of them – ignorant, offensive and dangerous.

Suella Braverman has displayed breathtaking ignorance in relation to Northern Ireland.

It is the Protestant Loyal Orders, e.g. the Orange Order, who are responsible for the vast majority of marches in Northern Ireland.

These people are natural allies of the home secretary’s ‘Conservative and Unionist Party’. They are pro-Union, pro-Brexit and pro-Israel.

Has she forgotten that it was a political party closely aligned to the Protestant Loyal Orders, the DUP, that the Tories did a £1bn confidence and supply deal with?

Her comments in the Times are deeply offensive to both communities in Northern Ireland.

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Unintentionally perhaps, she has likened those who march “in defence of the Protestant faith”, i.e. Christian, with “Islamists”.

It’s equally insulting if she was referring to the Catholic Civil Rights Movement from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Again, has the home secretary forgotten Bloody Sunday, when 14 innocent Catholics were shot dead during a civil rights march in Derry?

Many will regard her comments as dangerous, not least because Northern Ireland does not currently have a power-sharing government in place.

Using words like “Hamas” and “terrorist” in the same breath as “Northern Ireland” and “marches” shows blatant disregard for a fragile peace.

The DUP is currently boycotting the power-sharing government over post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Relations between the largest Unionist party and the government are cool and this will do nothing to thaw the ice.

It is tempting to think the UK government is deliberately attempting to make devolution more appealing than direct rule from Westminster.

But that would require a level of strategic thinking on Northern Ireland that we have not seen in a very long time.

Helix mixer operator gets 3 years in prison for money laundering

Published

4 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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Helix mixer operator gets 3 years in prison for money laundering

Larry Harmon laundered 350,000 BTC, but he was treated leniently for his help in jailing Roman Sterlingov.

NY Supreme Court allows Greenidge to keep mining, but challenges remain

Published

4 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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NY Supreme Court allows Greenidge to keep mining, but challenges remain

The state Department of Environmental Conservation botched the permitting process, but it still gets a do-over.

UK economy grows by 0.1% between July and September – slower than expected

Published

4 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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UK economy grows by 0.1% between July and September - slower than expected

The UK economy grew by 0.1% between July and September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

However, despite the small positive GDP growth recorded in the third quarter, the economy shrank by 0.1% in September, dragging down overall growth for the three month period.

The growth was also slower than what had been expected by experts and a drop from the 0.5% growth between April and June, the ONS said.

Economists polled by Reuters and the Bank of England had forecast an expansion of 0.2%, slowing from the rapid growth seen over the first half of 2024 when the economy was rebounding from last year’s shallow recession.

And the metric that Labour has said it is most focused on – the GDP per capita, or the economic output divided by the number of people in the country – also fell by 0.1%.

Reacting to the figures, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “Am I satisfied with the numbers published today? Of course not. I want growth to be stronger, to come sooner, and also to be felt by families right across the country.”

“It’s why in my Mansion House speech last night, I announced some of the biggest reforms of our pension system in a generation to unlock long term patient capital, up to £80bn to help invest in small businesses and scale up businesses and in the infrastructure needs,” Ms Reeves later told Sky News in an interview.

“We’re four months into this government. There’s a lot more to do to turn around the growth performance of the last decade or so.”

New economy data tests chancellor’s growth plan

The sluggish services sector – which makes up the bulk of the British economy – was a particular drag on growth over the past three months. It expanded by 0.1%, cancelling out the 0.8% growth in the construction sector.

The UK’s GDP for the most recent quarter is lower than the 0.7% growth in the US and 0.4% in the Eurozone.

The figures have pushed the UK towards the bottom of the G7 growth table for the third quarter of the year.

It was expected to meet the same 0.2% growth figures reported in Germany and Japan – but fell below that after a slow September.

The pound remained stable following the news, hovering around $1.267. The FTSE 100, meanwhile, opened the day down by 0.4%.

The Bank of England last week predicted that Ms Reeves’s first budget as chancellor will increase inflation by up to half a percentage point over the next two years, contributing to a slower decline in interest rates than previously thought.

Announcing a widely anticipated 0.25 percentage point cut in the base rate to 4.75%, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) forecast that inflation will return “sustainably” to its target of 2% in the first half of 2027, a year later than at its last meeting.

The Bank’s quarterly report found Ms Reeves’s £70bn package of tax and borrowing measures will place upward pressure on prices, as well as delivering a three-quarter point increase to GDP next year.