Disintegration Nation

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2021

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As street violence convulses Northern Ireland, is the border in the Irish Sea producing exactly the crisis the Government were warned of? And will the expiry of the Grace Period make things worse? Special guest Ailbhe Rea, the New Statesman’s political correspondent and host of its podcast, explains what’s behind the tensions. Plus, will elections in Scotland and Wales push the UK closer to break-up? And No.10’s growing vaccine confidence problem. “The Union is under the biggest threat it’s seen since the crisis in Ireland that created it.” – Jill Rutter “Paramilitary makes them sound more glamorous than they are. They’re just criminal gangs and drug dealers.” – Ailbhe Rea “Unionists have been forced to accept something that waters down their sense of being part of the UK.” – Jill Rutter Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Jill Rutter, Jess Sergeant and Akash Paun. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government. I'm Bronwyn Maddox.
0:16.9	Boris Johnson proved to be successful at campaigning to leave one political union,
0:23.9	but does he have a winning plan to keep the United Kingdom together?
0:27.2	With less than a month until elections in Scotland and Wales,
0:30.7	and with unrest breaking out on the streets of Belfast and Londonderry,
0:32.7	we're going to be looking at the state of the Union and the Prime Minister's plans to keep its four nations united.
0:36.8	As elections approach, the success of
0:38.7	the vaccine rollout is at the heart of the government's campaign, but concerns over the Oxford
0:43.1	AstraZeneca vaccine have spread from the EU to the UK. European Medicines Agency said that unusual
0:49.4	blood plots associated with low blood platelets should be listed as very rare side effects of the vaccine.
0:55.9	And in the UK, the medicines and healthcare regulatory agency has now confirmed that people
1:01.0	under 30 will be offered an alternative if there's one available.
1:04.7	So we're going to take a look at the implications of all that.
1:07.8	Well, I'm joined in the virtual studio today by a trio of IFG experts on all things devolved.
1:13.7	Akash Pound, one of our senior fellows leads our work on that. Hi, Akash. Hi, Zerun.
1:18.3	Jess Sargent, senior researcher on our devolution and Brexit teams is with us as well. Hi, Jess.
1:23.2	Hi. And back in the studio is our senior fellow, Jill Rutter.
1:27.8	Great to see you, Jill, so to speak.
1:29.3	Thank you.
1:29.9	Great to be back.
1:31.7	And I'm delighted that we're joined by our guest today, Alva Ray, the new
1:34.9	statesman's political correspondent and co-host of its podcast.
	...

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