US and EU Commission Presidents both under fire in one speech in UK Parliament
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This report has been co-published with our affiliated organisation, Brexit Facts4EU.Org. We are most grateful for their original research into the raw data which backs what follows.
Watch our video clips as a noble Baroness lays it on the line for Washington and Brussels
CIBUK.Org and Facts4EU.Org summarise a powerful speech in the Lords this week
In an important speech in the House of Lords on Monday – unreported in the media – the Presidents of the United States and of the EU Commission came under fire from a mild-mannered Baroness.
In measured tones Baroness Kate Hoey expressed what many people feel about the position that an integral part of the United Kingdom finds itself in.
Baroness Hoey, former Labour minister and now a crossbench independent Peer, told our Chairman:
“Once again CIBUK and Brexit Facts4EU are standing up for the principle of the whole United Kingdom being a free, independent and sovereign country. I am pleased you have chosen to highlight what I had to say about this in the House of Lords on Monday.
“If the Government think those who oppose the Protocol will be influenced by the threat of an election or their salary reduced they have not understood how this issue transcends the desire to restart the Assembly. It is simply a choice. Protocol or Devolution.”
CIBUK.Org and Facts4EU.Org present some excerpts from the speech plus two short video clips which can be shared. We are grateful to Baroness Hoey for her assistance with this report. The transcript of her full speech is available here.
Baroness Kate Hoey of Lylehill and Rathlin
Excerpts of speech in House of Lords, Mon 05 Dec 2022
“We in Northern Ireland face a big threat – an even bigger threat than we had before over 30 years of people trying to bomb us and terrorise us. We face the threat of our place as an integral part of the United Kingdom being whittled away by the Protocol, and that transcends any monetary considerations.”
“I do not fear an election in Northern Ireland as I think pro-union people will be even more determined to come out and vote as they have seen what has happened over the past months.”
“It seems to me that the EU is still working under the same negotiating mandate, and that is not going to work.”
“We cannot be left under EU rules. Huge chunks of the Retained EU Law Bill coming to us will not apply to Northern Ireland; we will be left even further behind as divergence takes place. Let us not forget that the Protocol has not yet been fully implemented and we have no idea what will be happening to the grace periods that are ending.”
“The noble Lord, Lord Bew, spoke of the new technology that the EU has been talking about: this invisible border that we can now have in the Irish Sea…. Well, if it is invisible at the Irish Sea border, it can jolly well be invisible at the frontier between Northern Ireland and the independent country of the Republic of Ireland that is within the European Union. Technology could work – many people talked about that some time ago – but, if it is to be invisible, it can be invisible where it should have been in the first place.”
Summary
What Baroness Hoey said about President Biden
If the video doesn’t load you can watch it on YouTube here.
“As has already been mentioned, we are facing the 25th anniversary of the Belfast agreement in April, and President Biden wants to come – to Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. That is meant to hit people with the idea that, to get President Biden here, we have to get the Assembly working again; that we cannot possibly have him here if the Belfast agreement is not being properly carried through. But I am not sure many people are that worried about whether President Biden will come or not. He has shown that he does not really – or does not want to – understand the pro-Union community in Northern Ireland, so I do not think that will be a particular influence on getting any changes.”
What Baroness Hoey said about EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
If the video doesn’t load you can watch it on YouTube here.
“Then just last week – I have to mention this because it shocked so many people – Ursula von der Leyen spoke in Dublin about the years of Ireland being in the European Union and how wonderful it was. She then appeared to liken the IRA to freedom fighters in Ukraine, and likened the United Kingdom to Putin. Your Lordships may say that she did not actually say that, but she certainly spoke in such a way that everyone who listened knew what was going on. How can we in Northern Ireland think that Ursula von der Leyen, as President of the Commission, really has the interests of the Belfast agreement and peace in Northern Ireland at heart when she can go to Dublin and say that?”
Baroness Kate Hoey of Lylehill and Rathlin.
Final excerpts of speech in House of Lords, Mon 05 Dec 2022
“We need to face up to the fact that we, here, are the legislature for Northern Ireland and have been so on many issues over a long period of time. We should not try to pretend otherwise.”
“The Government have to show their determination that they mean to get rid of the Protocol. If we cannot get rid of it by using negotiations in the EU then we have to use the Protocol Bill. If we want devolution back, we are going to have to get rid of that Protocol. That is the real issue facing us today.”
– Baroness Kate Hoey of Lylehill and Rathlin, House of Lords, Mon 05 Dec 2022
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For the original report, click here: https://facts4eu.org/news/2022_dec_presidents_under_fire