Political OD 12: Approaching approaches
The latest PoliticalOD podcast is a Covid-free zone, as The Dissenter and I look at the government's approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Last month, it published a document setting out its view that the Withdrawal Agreement should entail few barriers to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I analysed the detail (or lack of it) in a recent CapX article . Big questions remain over VAT, food checks, the enforcement of single market regulations and human rights' provisions. There's still a very real threat that consumers will face fewer choices and higher costs, after January 2021. The latest row to blow up at Stormont concerns pensions for victims of the Troubles, currently being held up by Sinn Fein, on the basis that some injured terrorists will be prevented from accessing the money. We still don't know how much the scheme is likely to cost, or it's overall impact on other spending here, as the Department of Finance continues to fail to produ