DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Follow court of public opinion on EU judges
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Follow court of public opinion on EU judges
The main point of Brexit was to take back control of our laws.
If, as part of a new deal with the EU, Rishi Sunak lets the European Court of Justice (ECJ) interfere in the affairs of Northern Ireland, that principle will be shattered.
We know the Prime Minister is desperate to agree a pact to replace the faulty Northern Ireland Protocol by the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in April.
In one respect, Brussels has made achieving this easier. Eurocrats have reportedly accepted that goods shipped from the mainland for sale in the province need no longer face physical customs checks.
If true, this is a belated and welcome outbreak of pragmatism.
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The main point of Brexit was to take back control of our laws
Dropping the Irish Sea border – which the EU policed with nit-picking insensitivity – would make domestic trade simpler, defuse sectarian tensions and potentially coax Unionists back to Stormont.
But it would be deeply unsatisfactory if, to seal the deal, Mr Sunak were to sell out Northern Ireland by giving European judges the ultimate say over any trade disputes.
That would fatally undermine the integrity of the UK, risking an explosive reaction from the DUP and Brexiteer MPs.
If power of arbitration is handed to the ECJ, how long until its tentacles creep into other aspects of our sovereignty and we find ourselves back in Brussels’ ambit?
Such a concession would be the thin end of a highly dangerous wedge. Mr Sunak must resist it furiously.
Back business, PM
First, the good news. British workers received their biggest pay rise on record, 102,000 more people found jobs and unemployment remains at a historic low.
But before we break out the champagne, there is also less encouraging news.
Increased wages have been eaten away by stubbornly high inflation, a record 843,000 working days were lost to strikes in December alone and one in five people of working age is ‘economically inactive’, despite vast numbers of job vacancies.
These are critical times for the Government. In a troubling intervention, a former Confederation of British Industry boss says Labour has become the party of business.
It’s not true, of course. They are still the same old high-tax, borrow-and-spend socialists they ever were.
But perceptions are important. If Mr Sunak is to shift the narrative and reclaim the economic high ground he needs to rediscover his Conservative instincts.
First and foremost he must reconsider the forthcoming overnight rise of six percentage points in corporation tax, which will crush investment and job creation and is guaranteed to stunt growth.
The PM should invoke the spirit of Margaret Thatcher – not Gordon Brown. Tories are the real champions of business. The sooner they remember that, the better.
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A former Confederation of British Industry boss says Labour has become the party of business
Defence incapability
The Ministry of Defence is fighting tooth and nail with the Treasury for an £11billion boost to the Armed Forces’ budget.
With the threats facing the UK more unpredictable than ever, national security demands greater military capabilities.
But one reason the Chancellor may be reluctant to comply is that the MoD has too often proved grievously wasteful.
From large-scale procurement projects such as aircraft carriers coming in hopelessly over budget to squandering nearly £1million on a woke advertising blitz to hit diversity targets, its profligacy is legendary.
However, the Chancellor must resist the temptation to use such deficiencies as an excuse to withhold the cash the MoD requires. He must protect the nation.
But any extra funding has to come with an explicit instruction that defence chiefs take more care with public money.
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