Pro IQRA News Updates.
Johnson says he has “mixed feelings” about the NI Protocol deal, which is “not about the UK taking back control”.
Johnson He defends the Northern Ireland Protocol Act.
He says it passed through the House of Commons without amendment.
Given this, he has “mixed feelings” about renegotiating the Rishi Sunak Protocol, he says. (He did not mention the age by name).
He says he has great respect for the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Jeffrey Donaldson.
He says it should be clear – “it’s not about the UK taking back control”.
It is about “non-compliance on the part of the European Union” to allow the UK to do what it wants to do in this country “not with our laws, but with theirs”.
main events
Johnson says he wishes he had cut business taxes, to outpace Ireland, after the UK leaves the EU
The presenter takes Johnson back to Brexit.
Q: When this passes, will exit the European Union.
Johnson He says he doesn’t agree.
There is no point in this exercise if you don’t do things differently.
Q: So what would you like differently?
Johnson He says, in retrospect, that he wishes they had “put a big ‘invest here’ tag over Britain once we got out of Covid”. The UK should have overtaken the Irish in lower business tax rates, he says.
He says they have had a long civil war over Brexit. But the government has not yet shown what it will do differently, for example in gene editing. In terms of services and financials, he says, there must also be a difference.
Johnson Now speaking for the BBC. He says he owes everything to the BBC. “They fired me” he says (referring to Do I Have News for You). But when he goes into the BBC studios, they are full of people. But he says independent networks have far fewer employees. He notes that they are more efficient, and says the BBC has been “cannibalized” by independents.
He says he thought of this when he was responsible for people paying licensing fees.
He says the BBC should raise more revenue for the UK.
When asked about Ukraine, Johnson He says he thinks he will win, but that it will be difficult.
Going back to Brexit, he said he hit a difficult audience with his message earlier. (The audience is mostly lingering.) But he asks if anyone thinks Russia has an iota of issue with Ukraine, and is pleased to find that the public is on their side on this.
Johnson says people want to ‘move on’ with Brexit and ‘understand that’
Johnson Now take the questions.
He says that people do not feel the economic change after Brexit.
But the country has to get out of the economic model in which it lives.
The presenter raises the “Windsor Framework”.
Johnson It is suggested that he has said enough about this.
He says it’s clear that people want to move on. They want a deal, no more quarrels. He says he gets it.
Johnson says ‘it’s nothing if it’s not the Brexit government’
Johnson He says he will continue to campaign for Brexit.
I will continue to fight for what I believe to be Brexit… because it’s nothing if the Brexit government isn’t, and Brexit is nothing if we don’t do things differently in this country.
He cites examples where the UK could benefit from a divergence from EU rules. He says gene editing is one example.
He says the Covid vaccine program was another example of Britain benefiting from daring to be different.
He says the Ukraine policy is another example, too.
By daring to be different, Brexit has now emboldened the rest of Europe to hand over arms to the Ukrainians.
In conclusion, Johnson expressed his support for Ukraine.
Johnson says he would find it ‘very difficult’ to vote on a protocol deal, which would be a ‘fulcrum of difference’
Johnson Says the protocol agreement will be “an anchor on the difference.”
And, he asks, who votes for the people who will set the single market laws – about what pets can be taken into Northern Ireland, or what goods can be sold there?
Nobody in Britain or Northern Ireland votes for these people (the EU commissioners), he says.
He says he will find it “very difficult” to vote on the protocol agreement.
He says he hopes it will work.
But if that doesn’t happen, the government should reinstate the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, he says. (This is the law that would allow the UK to ignore parts of the protocol.)
Johnson says he has “mixed feelings” about the NI Protocol deal, which is “not about the UK taking back control”.
Johnson He defends the Northern Ireland Protocol Act.
He says it passed through the House of Commons without amendment.
Given this, he has “mixed feelings” about renegotiating the Rishi Sunak protocol, he says. (He did not mention the age by name).
He says he has great respect for the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Jeffrey Donaldson.
He says it should be clear – “it’s not about the UK taking back control”.
It is about “non-compliance on the part of the European Union” to allow the UK to do what it wants to do in this country “not with our laws, but with theirs”.
Johnson calls Northern Ireland protocol ‘all my fault’
Johnson is now talking about Brexit and Northern Ireland. Upcoming news….
He says that if the UK wants to leave the customs union, and keep the border open to Ireland, then checks will have to be done on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland.
Just to “help the EU”, the UK agreed to those checks.
Johnson says he believes the checks won’t be onerous. “It was all my fault,” he says aside.
Johnson said this almost as a joke. But it’s not something he’s said before, which is a concession of sorts to Rishi Sunak.
Johnson The Guardian recently said a letter from him was “shocking”.
I’m not sure what he’s referring to, but that sure is it. It is vulgar and rambling, almost incoherent. But his speeches are often like that.
Presumably, though, he will at some point say something that counts as news.
While swiping at Keir Starmer, Johnson He adds a line about the Conservative Party being “only a few points” behind Labor when he stepped down as Prime Minister.
.