Brexit and Northern Ireland: The year of the protocol
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 5 January 2022
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
It's a year since the post-Brexit transition period ended, and the Northern Ireland protocol came into effect. As Foreign Secretary Liz Truss prepares to resume negotiations with the EU, what has the impact been on everyday life in Northern Ireland and on the political parties? And what could 2022 bring?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's hard to keep two big things in mind at once, so while we've been fixated on the |
| 0:13.1 | pandemic, it's been easy to lose sight of Brexit. But a year ago, Britain's post-Brexit |
| 0:19.2 | agreement with the European Union came into force and a new reality dawned. One part |
| 0:25.8 | of the UK, where the effects have been felt in earnest over the last year, is Northern Ireland. |
| 0:30.9 | Where a customs border has, in effect, been drawn down the Irish sea between it and Great Britain |
| 0:37.2 | to the dismay of many. There is a perception within unionism that the Irish Republic's |
| 0:43.1 | government is using the protocol to ease Northern Ireland out of the GB war, but a moral |
| 0:49.8 | land on the Republic and the EU. I'm not too sure if that's reality, but perceptions in this |
| 0:55.1 | place mean everything. In Belfast, police have been faced with the kind of civil unrest, |
| 1:00.3 | uncommon since the Good Friday Agreement brought peace to the country. |
| 1:12.7 | And with tighter regulation due to come into force in the early part of this year, |
| 1:16.8 | and the shock resignation of the UK's chief negotiator just before Christmas, |
| 1:21.5 | the situation may well become even more fraught. You're listening to stories of our times |
| 1:26.8 | and the times and the Sunday times, I'm David Aronovich. Today, Brexit and Northern Ireland, |
| 1:33.8 | the year of the protocol. |
| 1:46.0 | And with one bound, we were supposedly free. On Christmas Eve 2020, a year after winning |
| 1:52.2 | a landslide general election victory, Prime Minister Boris Johnson presented his government's |
| 1:57.2 | new deal with the European Union as a festive gift to a virus hit nation. |
| 2:03.1 | Tonight on Christmas Eve, I have a small present for anyone who may be looking for something |
| 2:09.1 | to read in that sleepy post Christmas lunch moment. You remember the oven ready deal by which we |
| 2:17.1 | came out on January 31st, that oven ready deal was just the start of this is the feast. |
| 2:24.0 | And I believe it will be the basis of a happy and successful and stable partnership with our friends |
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