Brexit: Lord Frost says government 'overclaiming' NI deal - BBC

Getty Images/Dan Kitwood

By John Campbell

BBC News NI economics and business editor

The UK's former top Brexit negotiator has said the new deal with the EU will make the Northern Ireland Protocol easier to operate but does not change its fundamentals.

The Windsor Framework was agreed on Monday.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Lord Frost said the government had been "overclaiming" some parts of the deal.

As an example he cited the extent to which it removes trade friction between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

However, Lord Frost concludes that does not mean the deal should not go ahead even if it is "a bitter pill to swallow".

In 2019 Lord Frost negotiated the Withdrawal Agreement which included the original protocol.

Central to the trade aspects of the new deal is the concept of green lanes and red lanes.

British goods which are staying in Northern Ireland will use the green lane at Northern Ireland ports, meaning they will not have to be checked and would require minimal paperwork.

Goods which are due to travel into the Republic of Ireland will use the red lane, meaning they would face customs processes and other checks at Northern Ireland ports.

The Stormont official who originally developed that concept said the new deal is is better in "practical, constitutional and presentational terms" than either the backstop or the original protocol.

Andrew McCormick was the official in charge of Brexit issues at Stormont.

Much earlier in the Brexit process, in 2018, he floated the idea of red and green 'channels' but at that time the UK government was not keen on the idea.

Writing for the think tank the UK in a Changing Europe Mr McCormick said the new framework is "a very significant achievement - well beyond expectations on what might have been negotiable in the context set by the previous stances of the UK government and the EU".

Meanwhile the UK's former peace process negotiator, Jonathan Powell, has said the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is right to take its time to assess the deal but "should not get lost in the weeds".

Mr Powell suggests the DUP would be "wise" to ultimately accept the deal even if it does not deliver everything they want.

Writing in the Financial Times Mr Powell said the alternative would be "a dead end with no assembly at Stormont and permanent political instability in Northern Ireland".

Mr Powell was chief British negotiator in Northern Ireland between 1997 and 2007.

More on new NI Brexit deal

AT-A-GLANCE: The keys points in the agreement

ANALYSIS: What the deal means for businesses

EXPLAINED: The Stormont brake and how it works

DUP DILEMMA: Stakes are high for unionist party

Related Topics

• NI Brexit
• David Frost
• NI economy
• Brexit

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2023-03-01 09:02:06Z
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Constance Marten and Mark Gordon arrested as baby still missing - The Times

A couple who went missing with their baby have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter as police continue to search for their child.

Sussex police said that Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were spotted in Brighton by a member of the public just before 9.30pm yesterday.

The couple, who had not been seen since their car broke down near Bolton in January, are now in custody while police search an area of 91 square miles across Newhaven and Brighton for the baby.

Police search an allotment for the missing baby

Marten’s father has told of his “immense relief” that his daughter is safe but said that his emotions were “tempered by the very alarming news her baby has yet to be found”.

Napier Marten told The Independent he loved his daughter

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2023-02-28 17:00:00Z
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Rishi Sunak heads to Belfast to sell Northern Ireland trade deal - Financial Times

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Missing couple Constance Marten and Mark Gordon arrested, search for baby continues - The Guardian

A couple who disappeared with their baby have been found but the infant is still missing, police have said.

Constance Marten and her partner, the convicted sex offender Mark Gordon, were located by Sussex police in Stanmer Villas in Brighton on Monday night after a member of the public reported seeing them shortly before 9.30pm.

The Metropolitan police said an urgent search operation was under way to find their baby, who has not received any medical attention since birth in early January.

Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, have been travelling around the UK by taxi since their car was found burning on the M61 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January.

Authorities previously believed the couple had been sleeping rough in a blue tent, and had avoided being traced by the police by moving around frequently and keeping their faces covered from CCTV.

The couple travelled from Bolton to Liverpool, then to Harwich in Essex, to east London and then to Newhaven in Sussex, where they were seen near the ferry port on 8 January.

Marten is from a wealthy aristocratic family with connections to the royal family and was a promising drama student before meeting Gordon in 2016. Gordon served 20 years in a US jail for rape and battery for an attack on a woman when he was 14, and was deported to Britain from the US in 2010.

Since 2016, the couple have led an isolated life cut off from family and friends. From about September last year, they began living in a series of Airbnbs around the country on short lets and amassed a significant amount of cash to enable them to live off-grid and avoid the attention of the authorities.

Taxi drivers used by the couple in the first few days after they went missing said they had heard noises coming from a baby. It is unknown if their baby was full-term or has any health issues.

In late January, police offered a £10,000 award for information leading to the couple’s whereabouts. At the time, officers said they were extremely concerned about the health and wellbeing of the newborn baby, adding they may have been “exposed to sub-zero temperatures, for almost a month now”.

In mid-January, Marten’s estranged father, Napier Marten, a film and music producer, appealed to her to hand herself in to the police. He said: “Darling Constance, even though we remain estranged at the moment, I stand by, as I have always done and as the family has always done, to do whatever is necessary for your safe return to us.”

Constance Marten grew up in the Dorset estate of Crichel House. Her grandmother was a playmate to Princess Margaret and her father was once a page to Queen Elizabeth II.

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2023-02-28 07:59:00Z
1796514433

Rishi Sunak hails new NI Brexit deal but DUP concerns remain - BBC

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By Becky Morton

BBC News

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has hailed his deal on post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland as a "decisive breakthrough".

Many Conservative MPs, including those who supported Brexit, gave their backing to the agreement.

And the DUP, whose support will be key to restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland, said there had been "significant progress".

But the party warned that "key issues of concern" remain.

On Tuesday, Mr Sunak was in Belfast as part of efforts to sell his Brexit deal, detailing to businesses and politicians how he believes it will ease the flow of trade between Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would now study the legal text, before reaching a decision on whether to support the deal.

The party has boycotted the devolved government until its concerns over the Northern Ireland Protocol are resolved and some Tory MPs have said they will only support an agreement if it has the backing of the DUP.

Sinn Féin, which is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, welcomed the deal, although it said it still needed to examine the details.

The party's vice-president, Michelle O'Neill, repeated her call for the DUP to return to devolved government, adding: "We always said that with pragmatism, solutions could be found."

• Northern Ireland Brexit deal: At-a-glance
• A simple guide to the Northern Ireland Brexit deal

After months of negotiation and speculation surrounding a possible deal, it was finally unveiled during a day of carefully choreographed events.

Word began to emerge from inside government at around 14:00 GMT that a deal on an issue which has vexed four prime ministers had finally been done.

The PM confirmed the breakthrough soon after during a joint press conference in Windsor with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

There was a notable warmth between the PM and Mrs von der Leyen as they outlined their agreement on Monday, with the EU chief referring to the prime minister as "dear Rishi" and hailing a "new chapter" of a "stronger EU-UK relationship".

She went on to have tea with King Charles at Windsor Castle. The pair were pictured smiling and chatting, but there was concern from some MPs that the meeting would draw the monarch into a contentious political issue.

As Mr Sunak travelled back to London to address the Commons, the details of the long-awaited deal were landing well with some MPs who might have been expected to cause the PM political problems.

Northern Ireland Office Minister and arch-Brexiteer Steve Baker said Mr Sunak had "pulled a blinder".

He had been considering resigning "as late as yesterday", he revealed, but added that the agreement "should be good enough for any reasonable unionists".

During a Commons debate, former Prime Minister Theresa May urged MPs to back the deal - but two other former leaders, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, did not attend.

Number 10 will be pleased by the response from the US, where outstanding issues over the arrangements in Northern Ireland have been seen as an obstacle in any potential trade talks between London and Washington.

US President Joe Biden said the deal was "an essential step to ensuring that the hard-earned peace and progress of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement is preserved and strengthened".

The agreement, named the Windsor Framework, changes the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was signed by Mr Johnson and came into force in 2021.

The protocol aimed to ensure free movement of goods across the Irish land border by conducting checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain instead.

But under the treaty, Northern Ireland had to keep following some EU rules.

PA Media

Mr Sunak said the new deal "delivers smooth-flowing trade within the whole United Kingdom, protects Northern Ireland's place in our union and safeguards sovereignty for the people of Northern Ireland".

Under the agreement:

• Goods from Britain destined for Northern Ireland will travel through a new "green lane", with a separate "red lane" for goods at risk of moving on to the EU
• Products coming into Northern Ireland through the green lane will see checks and paperwork significantly reduced, while red lane goods will still be subject to normal checks
• A "Stormont brake" allows the Northern Ireland Assembly to raise an objection to "significantly different" EU rules which would apply in Northern Ireland
• UK VAT and excise rules will apply to Northern Ireland for alcoholic drinks for immediate consumption and immovable goods such as heat pumps. Previously EU VAT rules could be applied in Northern Ireland

But there is no guarantee that it will result in the return of a power-sharing devolved government for Northern Ireland. In a statement, the DUP said "significant progress has been secured across a number of areas" but concerns remain.

"There can be no disguising the fact that in some sectors of our economy EU law remains applicable in Northern Ireland," it said.

The party said it would now study the deal and seek "further clarification, reworking or change as required".

The nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party, and the Alliance Party, which is neither nationalist nor unionist, welcomed the deal, although both said they had concerns about the Stormont brake clause.

But the Traditional Unionist Voice Party said the agreement was "much spin, not a lot of substance" and meant the protocol "effectively stays".

The Ulster Unionist Party said it would study the detail but would not give cover to other parties.

• How does power-sharing work in Northern Ireland?

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Several Brexit-supporting MPs have responded positively to the agreement.

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis said the prime minister had "pulled off a formidable negotiating success" and "secured the best possible deal".

Former Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said there had been "huge progress", adding: "It all now depends on whether the communities in NI feel it's the right solution."

However, other Tory MPs were more cautious, with prominent Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash saying "the devil as ever lies in the detail".

DUP MP Ian Paisley said the deal had "fallen short" in a number of key areas, including the continued role of the European Court of Justice as the final arbiter in disputes over EU rules.

"My gut instinct is it doesn't cut the mustard," he told BBC Newsnight.

Mr Sunak said Parliament would get a vote on the agreement at the "appropriate time" but that MPs needed a chance to consider the detail.

Labour has said it will support a deal but the government will be reluctant to rely on opposition votes.

Leader Sir Keir Starmer said the deal was not "perfect" but "now that it has been agreed we all have an obligation to make it work".

Mr Sunak also confirmed the government was dropping the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which was introduced under Mr Johnson when he was prime minister and would have given the UK the power to unilaterally scrap parts of the old deal.

He said the bill was now no longer needed and the original legal justification for it had "fallen away".

.

Related Topics

• NI Brexit
• Rishi Sunak
• DUP (Democratic Unionist Party)
• European Union
• Brexit

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2023-02-28 06:38:31Z
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NI Brexit deal: Sunak setting out Northern Ireland deal in Parliament - BBC

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The Northern Ireland minister, Steve Baker, says he is "delighted, hand-on-heart glad to accept the whole thing", referencing the new post-Brexit deal.

"I am incredibly proud of this achievement," he adds, which he says works "for Ireland, for the EU, for the Eurosceptics and for the unionists".

He says he explained this to the European Research Group (ERG) but adds that they can't be rushed, "just as the DUP can't be rushed".

"Imagine you're sending something to the Isle of Wight, which involves a ferry... just as there would be some commercial information being shared with the ferry operator, the same will happen to Northern Ireland," he says, explaining there will be a system that will make sure this "normal commercial information" is shared with the EU.

There will be no extra process for online retailers, Baker says.

"From the point of view of someone who sends a parcel, that will just go without any process," he adds.

Shipping to Northern Ireland will be just like shipping to the Isle of Wight, Baker says.

"This restores the place of NI in the union. It's great news."

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2023-02-27 17:15:00Z
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Northern Lights in Cornwall: Where to see them tonight - Cornwall Live

Northern Lights could be seen from Cornwall tonight. The Aurora Borealis are rarely seen in southern areas of the UK - but tonight residents could be in luck.

Last night (February 26) the skies were lit up with spectacular colours leaving people across the UK in awe. Fortunately for those who missed the show, the Met Office says the lights may be visible again this evening. The bad news is that cloudy skies may limit opportunities to catch a glimpse of the celestial exhibition.

Cloud is forecast tonight across Cornwall but the good news is that there may be a chance in the early hours of Tuesday morning (February 28). A Met Office weather map shows that at 10pm the majority of the county will be shrouded in thin cloud.

Read more: Northern Lights seen from Cornwall as rare phenomena set to return

However, those dedicated enough to stay up until 2am could see a gap in the clouds on the north coast of Cornwall. This includes in areas including St Ives, Gwithian, Newquay, Padstow, Tintagel, Boscastle, and Bude.

The head of space weather at the Met Office, Mark Gibbs, said: “The aurora will continue tonight but with cloudy skies across much of the UK, it may be too optimistic to expect clear sightings two nights in a row."

A Met Office map showing cloud and clear skies over Cornwall in the early hours of Tuesday morning (February 28)

“Last night’s sighting saw the coincidence of perfect conditions, making the aurora visible on the north horizon in the south of England.

Time you could see the Northern Lights in the UK tonight

Mr Gibbs said: “If you have a clear sky tonight, head outside around midnight and have a look, but it is most likely to be visible from the west coast of Scotland.”

What causes the Northern Lights?

Although mostly associated with the northern hemisphere, the aurora can be seen at both poles of the earth. The northern version is called Aurora Borealis while the southern version is called Aurora Australis.

Although they may appear magical, the spectacular colours in the sky are caused by activity on the surface of the sun. Huge clouds of electrically-charged particles are given off by solar storms and travel millions of miles, some eventually colliding with the earth.

Some of these then become stuck in the earth's magnetic field and accelerate towards the north and south poles. What we perceive as colourful and sometimes dancing shapes are atoms and molecules in the atmosphere colliding with particles from the sun. The displays can extend from as low as 80 miles above the earth's surface to thousands of miles higher.

Read more:

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2023-02-27 15:45:26Z
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