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Sunak says being in single market and UK makes Northern Ireland ‘world’s most exciting economic zone’
Q: With corporation tax going up, how can we ensure Northern Ireland remains an attractive place for investment?
Sunak jokes about being glad he is no longer chancellor.
He says last year we saw what happened when the government had let borrowing get out of control.
He refers to the previous question, and says children facing poverty don’t benefit if the government finances are not under control.
He wants to see businesses invest more, he says. That is how we create jobs.
He says he wants to cut taxes on investment.
He says nowhere else in the world has the advantages Northern Ireland has, being in the EU single market and in the UK.
He says this makes it unique in the world.
It is the same argument he made on the Today programme earlier (see 9.07am), except now he is laying it on very thick. He says this makes Northern Ireland “the world’s most exciting economic zone”.
And he says this is an advantage Ireland does not have.
UPDATE: See 11.11am for the full quote.
Key events
Sunak accused of inconsistency after talking up benefits of Northern Ireland being in single market
This is what Rishi Sunak said in his Q&A about Northern Ireland being “the world’s most exciting economic zone” because it is in the EU single market and the UK.
If we get this right, if we get this framework implemented, if we get the executive back up and running here, Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position – unique position in the entire world, European continent – in having privileged access, not just to the UK home market, which is enormous, the fifth biggest in the world, but also the European Union single market. Nobody else has that. No one. Only you guys. Only here. And that is the prize.
I can tell you, when I go around the world and talk to businesses, they know. They’re like, ‘That’s interesting, if you guys get this sorted, then we want to invest in Northern Ireland.’
Because nowhere else does that that exist. That’s like the world’s most exciting economic zone.
He also said, if the power sharing executive is restored, it can focus on attracting more inward investment.
Obviously, prior to Brexit, the whole of the UK, not just Northern Ireland, enjoyed the benefits of unfettered access to the single market and to the UK domestic market. Commentators and anti-Brexit campaigners have been making that argument on Twitter this morning. I quoted some earlier. (See 9.07am.) Here are some more people accusing Sunak of inconsistency.
From Alastair Campbell, the leading podcaster and former communications chief for Tony Blair
Listening to Sunak waxing lyrical about how much easier life and business are without endless form filling and unnecessary borders takes me back to the days when Thatcher waxed lyrical about the single market. What we have remains so much worse than what we had. 1/2
— ALASTAIR CAMPBELL (@campbellclaret) February 27, 2023
From the Labour MP Chris Bryant
Sunak says how wonderful it is that Northern Ireland gets privileged access to the single market. I’d like that for the rest of the UK.
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) February 27, 2023
(Bryant is not going to get single market membership from a Labour government. Keir Starmer has ruled out rejoining.)
Sunak’s argument only makes sense if you believe that being outside the EU will make the UK domestic market a much more attractive one for firms than it was when the UK was a member. Perhaps that might be the case if Brexit were to turbo-charge the economy in some way that would make it outperform the EU. But there is no evidence at all for this happening; instead, so far, most economists believe Brexit has been a drag on economic performance.
But Sunak does seem to genuinely believe in the economic benefits of Brexit. Unlike other Brexiters, who voted to leave the EU in 2016 because they primarily wanted the government to be able to halt free movement EU immigration, or because they thought it would deliver a shock to an establishment that had ignored left-behind communities, Sunak voted leave because he thought it would be good for trade and growth. In an article for the Sunday Telegraph at the weekend on the protocol, he started by saying: “I voted for Brexit and I believe in Brexit, because it offers vast opportunities for families and businesses across our whole country.”
‘Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position – unique position in the entire world – in having privileged access not just to the UK market… but also the EU single market’
‘Nobody else has that. No one. Only you guys, only here’
Rishi Sunak hails his Brexit deal pic.twitter.com/StDkAV57qm
— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) February 28, 2023
My colleague John Crace points out that, in his comments criticising the original Northern Ireland protocol this morning, Rishi Sunak glossed over who was responsible for it.
Rishi Sunak spent a lot of time this morning trashing the NI protocol. Seems to have forgotten he supported it at 2019 election and in Johnson govt
— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) February 28, 2023
Sunak is now taking two final questions.
Q: How confident are you that this deal will heal the divisions in Northern Ireland?
Sunak says he went to university in 1998. He grew up under the Good Friday agreement. His roommate at university was from Omagh, he says.
He says the protocol disrupted the balance of the Good Friday agrement, which is about respecting all identities. That is why it needed resolving. It is why he has spent so much time on this, he says.
He says the deal is an “enormously positive step forward”.
Q: What can you do to ensure there are more electric charging points in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has the lowest number per person in the UK?
Sunak says he did not know that. Over the UK as a whole, performance is good, he says. He says this shows why Northern Ireland needs a functioning government.
And that’s it. The Q&A is over.
Sunak says he has to be disciplined on public sector pay. He says the worst thing he could do would be to not deliver on his pledge to halve inflation.
Sunak says he wants to give DUP ‘time and space’ to consider deal, and hopes that will lead to resumption of power sharing
Q: MLAs are elected to do a job. They get paid to do it, but they are not doing it. When is enough enough?
Sunak says that is a good question. It is a “reasonable point”. Salaries have been cut by 27%, he says.
But there was a reason the DUP were boycotting the assembly. And their concerns were valid.
He says the Stormont brake should give the DUP even more incentive to go back. The assembly will have more powers. He says he hopes, with “time and space”, the DUP will agree to resume power sharing. He says he wants to give them that time and space.
Q: My 14-year-old son is a member of the youth assembly here. How can we demonstrate to young people that politics is a force for good, not something that divides us.
Sunak asks if the youth assembly is sitting. The questioner says it is.
Sunak says that is what people need to see.
We have to put the arguments of the past behind us, he says.
He says with the new framework, Northern Ireland can move forward.
Sunak says half the people in his office are from Northern Ireland.
Sunak says being in single market and UK makes Northern Ireland ‘world’s most exciting economic zone’
Q: With corporation tax going up, how can we ensure Northern Ireland remains an attractive place for investment?
Sunak jokes about being glad he is no longer chancellor.
He says last year we saw what happened when the government had let borrowing get out of control.
He refers to the previous question, and says children facing poverty don’t benefit if the government finances are not under control.
He wants to see businesses invest more, he says. That is how we create jobs.
He says he wants to cut taxes on investment.
He says nowhere else in the world has the advantages Northern Ireland has, being in the EU single market and in the UK.
He says this makes it unique in the world.
It is the same argument he made on the Today programme earlier (see 9.07am), except now he is laying it on very thick. He says this makes Northern Ireland “the world’s most exciting economic zone”.
And he says this is an advantage Ireland does not have.
UPDATE: See 11.11am for the full quote.
In response to a question about food security, Sunak conceded supermarket shortages were a problem. He said:
The hassle of getting a supermarket lorry from Great Britain to Northern Ireland was enormous, hundreds of certificate, tonnes of bureaucracy to get through.
And worse, what was available in Great Britain on the shelves in the supermarket – which I know is a bit challenging at the moment but is getting better – but more generally, was not available on the shelves in Northern Ireland and that wasn’t right.
And we’ve resolved all those issues, there’s going to be the same things in both places and that’s as it should be.
Q: One in four children in Northern Ireland is in poverty. What more can the government do?
Sunak says he is a parent, with daughters aged nine and 10. It is heartbreaking to think of children in poverty.
He says the best way to get children out of poverty is to have their parents in work.
If your parents are in work, you are four or five times less likely to be in poverty, he says.
Sunak says one of the benefits of leaving the EU is that it will allow the government to redesign schemes supporting farmers. There are opportunities to grow more at home, he says.
Sunak is now taking questions.
Q: You talk a lot about the benefits of the agreement for trade. We are an all-island business. Are there any implications we need to consider?
Sunak says the agreement is a balance. It protects the interests of firms trading with Ireland.
Sunak is now running through what he sees as the advantages of the protocol deal.
It is a version of the speech he gave at his press conference yesterday.
Sunak tells voters in Northern Ireland during Q&A he is ‘over the moon’ about protocol deal
Rishi Sunak is starting his Q&A. He is at a Coca Cola plant.
He starts by saying they are all thinking of John Caldwell, the police officer shot last week, and praying for his recovery.
Turning to the protocol, he says he knows it was causing problems. That is why he has spent so much time trying to find a resolution. He goes on to say that is why he is “really pleased” – then he corrects himself, no “over the moon” – about being able to strike the deal yesterday.
Here is the scene where people are waiting in Northern Ireland for Rishi Sunak’s PM Connect event.
Rishi Sunak will be holding a PM Connect event in Belfast very shortly.
PM Connect is Sunak’s term for a Q&As with voters. David Cameron used to call them PM Direct when he did them.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, was also interviewed on the Today programme this morning. Most of what he said about the protocol deal echoed what he said in the statement he released yesterday, and when the presenter, Justin Webb, put it to him that he was being “cautiously positive”, Donaldson did not object. Donaldson told the programme:
We’re reasonable people but we want to ensure that what the prime minister has said is matched by what is actually in the agreement itself, can it deliver on the areas of concern that we set out in our seven tests?
What happens next for NI protocol deal to be implemented
In his Today interview Rishi Sunak was asked if the Windsor framework would be implemented anyway, even if the DUP did not back it and refused to restore power sharing at Stormont. In his response, he did not use the word “yes”, but that is what he implied. He said:
The framework is what we have agreed with the European Union. It’s an incredibly positive and comprehensive agreement, ensures that we have smooth flowing trade within the UK internal market … This is not necessarily about me or any one political party. This is about what’s best for the people in communities and businesses in Northern Ireland.
The deal has not yet been implemented. In the command paper published yesterday, the government explained what would have to happen next. It said:
We have set out above the instruments that make up this package overall. These will be approved at the next meeting of the UK-EU Joint Committee, which we expect to take place next month. After that, the UK and EU will respectively take forward legislative measures to translate the solutions into law in both legal orders, providing the basis for these new arrangements to enter into force.
The document does not say the deal is conditional upon Stormont, or the DUP, agreeing to it.
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Andrew Sparrow
