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FORMER UK PRIME Minister John Major has called for London to revoke Article 50 as a matter of urgency.
Speaking at an event in Dublin this morning, he said it was time for British politicians to turn to “reality and not fiction”.
Remarking on Theresa May’s decision to call off today’s ‘meaningful’ vote on the Brexit withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons, Major said:
Whether you are a remainer or a leaver no-one can welcome chaos.
Politicians, he urged, need to protect the economic wellbeing of the British people
“We now need to revoke Article 50 with immediate effect,” Major said. The clock must be stopped, he said, “we need time”.
The UK, he said, will find a way through the present morass.
But we need time to find it.
May is to visit Germany’s Angela Merkel today as she works to salvage her Brexit deal.
Earlier this week, she dismissed the idea of abandoning Brexit after the European Court of Justice ruled that the Article 50 process could be stopped without the UK seeking approval from Brussels.
The court’s ruling fueled calls for a second referendum on Brexit. But May said that halting Article 50 would be a betrayal of those who voted Leave in 2016 and would mean “going back on the vote of the referendum and remaining in the EU”.
Major, who led the mid-90s Conservative government, is in Ireland for a series of events marking the 25th anniversary of the Downing Street Declaration – one of the landmark agreements of the peace process which helped pave the way for the Good Friday Agreement five years later.
Building on the progress of talks between Gerry Adams and John Hume, the 1993 agreement between Major and then-Taoiseach Albert Reynolds signalled that republicans and loyalists could attend talks on the future of of the North if paramilitaries handed over their arms.
Speaking at the inaugural Albert Reynolds Memorial lecture in Co Longford yesterday, Major said there had been ”breathtaking ignorance” from unionists who opposed the Brexit backstop.
Answering questions from the audience at this morning’s event at the Westin Hotel, he said we should not forget the murders of customs officials at the border in the early days of the Troubles.
The hard-won peace in the North shouldn’t be taken for granted, he said – adding that he was yet to meet anyone who lived in the border region who was not perturbed by the prospect of a reimposition of a hard border.
There are figures within loyalism and republicanism who would be only too willing to exploit the target of a border infrastructure, he warned.
Major said it was a risk “that should not be taken”.
Asked whether he thought a united Ireland was now more likely to happen and whether it would give him grief if Northern Ireland left the UK, he said “of course it would give me grief”.
“You cannot do that sort of thing without broad consent,” he said – stressing that harmony north and south and free-flowing trade were the most important priorities for the island.
Asked if he thought Brexit was irrevocable and if he envisaged the UK might now instead remain in the EU he said that in the present situation “I don’t think anything is impossible”.
He said he thought the remain outcome could only come about if there was a second referendum and people voted conclusively to stay in the EU.
As other options fall by the wayside it becomes more possible, he said – but that doesn’t mean it’s likely. “It’s certainly not impossible,” he said.
Important to remember that it’s a legal requirement on the part of the school, they’re only doing their jobs in terms of safeguarding, isn’t that what we want? tusla will then follow up on each one and if covid was the reason then that’ll be that. No need to assume tusla is going to copy and paste a load of care orders and take a pile of kids away from their parents. Let’s see in 6months time what actually happens.
@TomTraubert: I agree completely, my daughter has missed a lot of days due to the department of health. Headache, sore throat for example. She’s in 6th class so was chancing her arm. A few antigen and pcr tests have stopped that. Although she was a close contact twice so that was 10 days gone
@TomTraubert: At the same time people were told to stay home from work if sick and keep the kids home from school if sick, rather than spread the virus, which was the correct thing to do. If TUSLA are taking it on themselves to chase down parents who followed health advice, they need to have a chat with the minister of health, who to my knowledge, is who they answer to, rather than take on tasks to justify their jobs. Thankfully, I’ve had no dealings with them, but I know several families that had, and what I have been told is they usually work on the assumption of guilty until proven innocent.
@Joe_X: If It is the schools that are doing the reporting as per the headline, then the Minister for Health needs to pull the Minister for Education on it since the teachers are going against public health advice and wasting everyone’s time.
@Joe_X: no. But let’s for a minute consider what would happen if schools didn’t report or just took the word of parents that kept their kids at home etc. There’s no way of then knowing what kids were legitimately off school or those that weren’t. Some kids with serious problems would then fall through the cracks. Then we’d have people like you demanding the minister and all in Tusla be hung drawn and quartered on O’Connell bridge. Don’t look at everything as being a big bad corrupt wanting to destroy the ordinary man arm of the state. Nobody can ever win with that attitude.
@TomTraubert: and it’s sad that I have to clarify this but I’m neither a teacher nor do I work for Tusla.
Doesn’t take much to stress some people these days.
@Justin Gillespie: can you blame them with the way our government operates.
You can be sure anything to do with the public service will be a mess.
It is a legal requirement on the part of the school to report absences over a set amount of days. They are just doing their jobs.
These parents need to get a grip and apply some common sense. Article should be about Schools following their legally required protocols and how it’s a good thing.
@me: how many teachers weren’t doing their job ‘teaching’ but out with ‘Covid’ !!!
The headline should say parents have no need to be stressed. It explains it all in the article. Typical journal trying its best to turn into a rag.
My child had missed over 20 days precovid due to illnesses. So we were reported as per regulation. I never heard anything from Tusla because guess what? They have bigger problems to deal with! If your child has been out for genuine reasons nobody is coming knocking on your door. They are looking for the child who misses every ‘payday’ because the parents are on the piss. Or just never goes to school. There are enough true neglect & abuse cases out there to keep them busy. I wish this rule had been in place when i was a child.
No mention of reporting the teachers for so many absences with no replacements in important exam years.
@Tom’s: Well ‘Tom’s’ if you have evidence that a teacher is behaving in a fraudulent manner then there are mechanisms to report them. I’d imagine it’s the evidence part you’re stuggling with is it?
@Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin:
What are you on about “fraudulent”.I’m talking about many teacher absences with no replacements.
Your very defensive I must have touched a nerve.
Typically Teachers making a hash of things
Look at our government……full of teachers and still making a hash of things
@Mark Walsh: Try reading the article!
@Mark Walsh: Cupid Stunt.
@Mark Walsh: Eh?? What article did you read?
I had to read the first part twice. All it says basically is parent totally oblivious to school policy and legal obligations. Issue is with the rule. I actually emailed norma on this a year ago as we missed 17 days for one isolation period following a household covid outbreak. She “has recieved my email and taken the content into consideration”. My point to her was reporting all the covid leave makes the safety net for kids who need this system less effective. Not the stress on the parents.
So parents need to be spoonfed now as well as their children.
The traditional family is no longer supported by capitalist greed so the state is creating bodies such as Tusla. Bit by bit the state will gain more control of our children.The traditional family with one parent working and the other surrounded by a big flock of children was nature’s way and provided the most stable happy children.
@John Moloney: hilarious that you think women can be forced back into the kitchen to surround herself with a ‘big flock of children’ and to be beholden to misogynists like yourself. I’d ask the children born ‘out of wedlock’ how stable and happy their childhoods were.
@EillieEs: I never mentioned women.
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