Take for example the Northern Ireland Protocol. First agreed in October 2019, by the following September NI minister Brandon Lewis was announcing the Internal Market Bill and proposing to break international law to 'correct' the NIP and placate the DUP. When that ruse didn’t work and the plate looked like toppling the bill was dropped and replaced by the Windsor Framework in February this year which still hasn't persuaded the DUP to return to Stormont. Last week Sunak hinted he was ready to pass yet more legislation to satisfy unionists, giving the rod spinning the plate yet another quick turn to avoid a disaster.
Things are no better on the immigration front. It was supposed to cut levels of net migration but has had the opposite effect. The original criteria have been tweaked already and next year the minimum salary is to be raised to £38,700 and care workers prevented from bringing dependents with them. If that doesn’t work, look out for further tightening (or loosening, who knows) as Sunak struggles to stop that particular plate from falling.
On farming, Minette Batters, the outgoing president of the NFU, has "slammed" the government’s post-Brexit agricultural policy for doing what the old EU Common Agricultural Policy was accused of - favouring large, rich landowners who are still "benefiting disproportionately" according to her.
Ms. Batters criticised the government for failing to build a fairer system: “Large landowners effectively living off the state is not going to wash going forward,” Batters claimed. I don't doubt for a moment that the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) which replaced the CAP will need to be attended to very shortly. It's another plate in danger of dropping off after accusations that it places too much emphasis on the environment at the expense of food production.
One plate that has already come crashing down is the one with a neat design for Britain to adopt its very own regulatory approval mark known as UKCA, with Northern Ireland having two, UKNI and CE. That idea barely got going before that had to be delayed/forgotten and the EU’s well-known and well-respected CE mark retained. The government decided to postpone that one indefinitely. Don't expect to hear mention of it again, it's quite dead.
We were supposed to implement import controls on goods arriving from the EU from the beginning of 2021 but they were delayed five times because infrastructure wasn’t ready. They are due to begin at the end of January 2024 but I expect them to either be delayed or applied 'sympathetically' (ie not at all) when shortages are reported because EU suppliers simply can't be bothered to fill in all the paperwork.
Sunak promised to scrap thousands of EU laws (REUL) but has had to give that rod another twirl after pressure from industry trade bodies who are fighting desperately to keep aligned with their biggest external market. Open Europe once listed the top 100 most expensive EU laws (HERE) said to be costing the UK £33 billion a year, but not one is among those destined for the scrap heap.
What has been ditched are a lot of irrelevant, out-of-date regulations that either don't cost Britain anything at all or so little they aren't worth bothering with. Many have been replicated as UK regulations. Badenoch is now consulting on some tiny changes to regulations that would free employers from recording hours worked, said to be worth £1 billion but don't hold your breath for that.
We've backpedaled on Horizon and we'll probably do the same eventually on Erasmus.
