Downing Street has warned the European Union not to disrupt the supply of coronavirus vaccines after Brussels imposed export controls and impinged on the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.
In an extraordinary move that blindsided both the UK and Ireland, the EU invoked Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to stop the unimpeded flow of jabs from the bloc into the region on Friday.
Boris Johnson urged the EU to “urgently clarify its intentions” and detail how it will honour its commitments to the peace process, during a “constructive discussion” with Irish Premier Micheal Martin.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster described Brussels’ move as an “incredible act of hostility” that places a “hard border” between the region and the Republic of Ireland.
A DUP MP has faced criticism from parliamentary counterparts after linking the IRA with Catholicism.
Ian Paisley’s reference to the sectarian murder campaign by the “Catholic IRA” drew critical responses from fellow members of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.
Mr Paisley was questioning Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis on legacy issues and was asking him if he was going to push the Irish Government to do more to secure justice for IRA killings in border areas during the Troubles.
“Today is Holocaust Memorial Day where we remember victims of Holocaust and also other genocide around the world and in Northern Ireland of course we remember the border campaign and the genocide of sectarian murder where the IRA, the Catholic IRA, murdered Protestants at the border,” said North Antrim MP Mr Paisley.
Comment And it’s not just fish and seafood that is being hit hard by the “sunlit uplands” of Brexit THERE seem to be rather a lot of “alternative facts” emanating from the Brexit brigands in the wilds of Westminster. According to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, issues surrounding the vortex of chaos that is the new Brexit exporting procedures are mere “teething problems”. That’s not how the Scottish fishing industry describes the wholesale destruction of its trading routes, customer bases and family businesses as its world-renowned produce fails to make it through the complicated red tape of regulations and border controls born out of our exit from the EU.
LONDON: An estimated one in eight people in England had had Covid-19 by December last year, up from one in 14 in October, new figures show.Antibody data on infection in private households suggests.