I have clearly stated many times that I found the departure from the EU to be a farce; so many lies, mistruths and out of it all we get the Brexit deal which is very close to scuppering the Good Friday Agreement. An agreement which is not perfect, has at least allowed the people of N Ireland to live relatively peacefully, and for the LGBTQ+ community to continue to fight for their rights, and most of the political parties now in N Ireland at least on paper support our community.
As an example of how Brexit has failed, I would suggest reading the article in the Guardian ‘Out! How Brexit sent one UK tennis kit firm to Romania‘, which highlighted the plight of one small company that moved lock, stock and barrel to Romania. And, I am not just talking about the company, but the owners with their children also.
…The Walkingtons decided they had to relocate lock, stock and barrel with their two children – after whom the company is named – last autumn and are now in the process of moving into new premises in Romania, where they are not only free of Brexit bureaucracy but are also benefiting from abundant skilled labour and help from the country’s authorities…
But to further compound this story about one small company, there is evidence that a substantial amount of other small companies are doing the same with Department for International Trade
advisors advising them to do so!
…Six months after the UK finally left the EU’s single market, thousands of other small companies have faced similar problems, and many have either relocated entirely to the EU or set up branches or warehouses inside the EU to avoid the export delays and costs. Advisers at the Department for International Trade have encouraged many to do so. The authorities in EU countries including the Netherlands, Austria and Romania are going out of their way to help UK companies shift their operations to the continent, knowing local jobs and new economic activity will be created…
This would tend to indicate a further weakening of the British economy.
But bringing the article back to LGBTQ+ politics, I am afraid that the DUP’s latest little foray into trying to win the LGBTQ+ vote is limp handed. A few words by one of the team which are almost repudiated the next day by the leader in terms of ‘others should be apologising to us’ does not indicate a party that has accepted us. To this, we can also add the continued delay by the Prime Minister (Rt Hon Boris Johnston) with one review after another, and nothing actually happens – reminds me of Yes Minister – A Public Inquiry.
We also have various stories now highlighting how since the pandemic, incidents of violence to eh LGBTQ+ community have increased.
These are not helped by the stories coming out of Hungary of violence being perpetuated on the LGBTQ+ community – and now we have the new EU chief Janez Jansa, Prime Minister of Slovenia, warning the EU that if it continues to try to impost ‘the west’s liberal views on Central Europe’ then it would be ‘the fastest road to collapse’ of the bloc.
Links:
- Brexit questions to be answered
- The Observer – Imposing ‘imaginary’ values risks EU collapse, Slovenian PM claims
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