- What are Liz Truss’s policy on Devolution? What are the new Prime Minister’s promises to resolve the Northern Ireland Protocol?
- What does Liz Truss think about the idea of Scottish independence?
Despite being born in Oxford and spending her teenage years in Leeds, Ms Truss lived in Paisley, Renfrewshire, for eight years as a child in the 1980s, where she attended West Primary School. The left-wing parents’ daughter has recalled hearing Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament demonstrations at the Faslane naval base and chanting anti-Thatcher slogans such as “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! Oot, oot, oot!” a far cry from her current Iron Lady posturing.
Liz Truss’s policy on Devolution: Liz Truss has claimed she would get Sinn Fein and the DUP into Government together in Northern Ireland if she is made prime minister
The Tory leader said she would work to fix the Northern Ireland Protocol and restore power-sharing in Stormont, which has been in flux since February. Ms Truss stressed the need to reduce checks on goods staying in the UK and to “make sure that the people of Northern Ireland can benefit from the same tax rates as the people of Great Britain”.
Ms Truss – who describes herself as a “child of the union” due to spending part of her childhood in Paisley – challenged the Scottish Government to improve its record rather than seeking another vote. The Foreign Secretary said she would “never let our family (of nations) be split up”.
The UK’s current prime minister elaborated on her NI protocol policy. Truss said: “I will seek to continue what I started in the Foreign Office to find a solution to the Northern Ireland protocol that works for the people and businesses there that contribute to our growth. I Respect Northern Ireland’s position as a key part of our United Kingdom.”
Liz Truss’s policy on Devolution about NI are as below :
- Truss described Northern Ireland as a “key part of our fantastic Union, “saying she was determined to “sort” the Northern Ireland Protocol issue and get power-sharing back up and running at Stormont.
- On the Protocol, she emphasized the need to make sure UK courts were the “ultimate arbiter”, and that trade with Great Britain was “free-flowing.”
- Truss said Boris Johnson was an “excellent” leader who had delivered on Brexit and the Covid vaccine after a questioner suggested he had “continually lied” to the country.
- Truss said, to applause, that all UK laws needed to apply across the whole of the UK when asked about abortion in Northern Ireland.
The Biden administration has sent Liz Truss a message on her second day in office warning against “efforts to undo the Northern Ireland protocol”
The warning came from the lectern in the White House briefing room, where spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about new British Prime Minister Truss’s first phone call with Joe Biden and whether Liz Truss discussed a US-UK trade deal.
The White House was surprised by Truss’s announcement in May, when she was foreign secretary, that the Government would proceed with legislation that would rewrite parts of the Protocol in a manner widely considered a breach of international law. Boris Johnson had assured the Biden team that no decision had been taken.
Michelle O’Neill, vice President of Sinn Féin, said she wanted to see a “change of tack” from the new prime minister. She added that “triggering Article 16 will not serve anybody well”, and she called on the UK government to find a way to reset relations with the EU. “The opportunity should not be missed, and there should be no more pandering to the DUP,” she said.
Another issue is Scotland
The last independence vote was held on 18 September 2014, finishing with a 55.3 per cent victory for the “no” campaign. Still, the UK Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a legal case in October that will determine whether a second can be held without the consent of Westminster, with the adverse impact of Brexit on Britain fuelling the fresh desire for a breakup of the union north of the border.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon responded to that in an interview with Sophy Ridge on Sky News by warning the new PM not to “gerrymander the rules”. “Just because you fear losing a democratic contest, it’s not an excuse or doesn’t make it acceptable to rewrite the rules of democracy,” she said.
Speaking in Exeter during last month’s hosting events for the leadership contest, Ms Truss was highly critical of her Scottish counterpart, paving the way for trouble ahead: “I feel like I’m a child of the union, I really believe we’re a family, and we’re better together, and I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignored her.
The former Instagram minister and current PM talked about Sturgeon and said, “She’s an attention-seeker, that’s what she is. We need to show the people of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales what we’re delivering for them and make sure that all of our government policies apply right across the United Kingdom.”
Elsewhere, Liz Truss pledged to hold the Scottish Parliament accountable for its “failure” to deliver quality public services, again attacking the SNP. “I will never let anyone talk down Scotland’s potential,” she said. “As a nation, we are stronger together, and the UK needs Scotland as much as Scotland needs the UK.”For too long, people in Scotland have been let down by the SNP focusing on constitutional division instead of their priorities. That won’t happen under my watch.”
SNP’s official website commented about the new PM and noted, “Regardless of who is Prime Minister, the Westminster system is utterly broken – and it’s simply not working for Scotland. Countries similar to Scotland, like Ireland, Belgium and Denmark, are wealthier, fairer, more equal and more productive than the UK – despite having fewer natural resources than Scotland. By taking our future into our own hands, we will always get the governments we vote for, working in Scotland’s best interests – and we’ll be able to rejoin the European Union, a market seven times the size of the UK.”
In conclusion, we are facing a leader whose opinions change quickly and does not seem to follow a stable policy
Case study, in May 2016, a lesser-known Liz Truss was at Northern Ireland’s Balmoral Show, arguing that the UK is stronger staying in the EU. She explained her decision at the time: “I don’t want us to spend years in a messy divorce from Europe, not focusing on what’s important.” Fast forward six years, and the fallout from a messy divorce is just what the new prime minister now finds herself caught up in.
