The Brits aren't at it again
What’s going on? Did I hear a pro-Brexit Tory apologising for how he had behaved towards Ireland and the EU?
It seems something has changed in the water across the way, and not just the prospect of an immediate financial collapse and disaster.
It seems that a serious change in British attitude had taken place even before the new British Prime Minister Liz Truss and her new chancellor (minister for finance) Kwasi Kwarteng announced their disastrous mini-budget that sent the British pound into freefall and caused financial markets to distrust the British government.
The mini-budget has been devastating for the government with some suggesting it reeked of reckless incompetence which may have already damaged it “beyond repair” - that’s from the pro-Tory Economist.
The cost of UK government borrowing surged after the mini-budget, food price inflation surged and the London stocks fell very sharply.
The Labour Party now has a 33 point lead over the Conservatives, according to a poll from YouGov - which could be the largest poll lead held by a party since the late 1990s. The pound also fell to a record low of 1.03 against the US dollar.
After just a few weeks of being in power, Liz Truss’s Tory government seems to be on borrowed time. Which would probably be a good thing for Ireland, given Truss’s previous pro-Brexit stance - and she is a former foreign secretary who introduced the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill into the House of Commons on 13 June.
Except that her government have been making conciliatory approaches to Ireland and the EU over recent weeks.
This week it ramped up a notch when Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker - an ardent Brexiteer - said on on RTÉ's ‘Morning Ireland' that he's sorry UK-Irish relations “have been soured by the Brexit process”. He also admitted that the previous acts by the British government were “not very respectful of Ireland's legitimate interests”.
That was truly surprising to hear. Has reason broken out?
“I’m very convinced that, if we get into a negotiation, without pre-conditions, and together in a spirit of goodwill, we can de-escalate this problem and we can get a deal which works for everyone, respecting everyone’s legitimate interests, north-south and east-west,” he said.
“And that really is why, if I have to eat a bit of humble pie in order to restore broken relationships to get that done, well, I’m happy to eat a bit of humble pie.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil “there is a preference on all sides for a negotiated settlement” on the protocol.
“Space should now be provided to allow an opportunity to get a negotiated settlement. I continue to believe that it is possible to reach a satisfactory outcome on the protocol through a process of negotiations,” he said. The Corkman now hopes that serious discussions can get under way.
This British government could still cause untold chaos for Ireland but their about turn is welcome indeed.