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Under the NI Protocol and under the Good Friday Agreement the ‘borders’ on the entire island of Ireland are at ports and airports. This should also apply to these new ETA. NI gets a lot of tourism revenue from coach and cruise liners who stop here for just a couple of days to visit key attractions. Then there are people who come to visit family and research their history and stay for varying lengths of time doing this. There are also international students attending University in Northern Ireland, and limiting them to the six counties of NI inhibits their education as well as their ability to attend events around the island. These ETA’s should only apply at the borders of the entire island. The economic damage implementation of these will do to the six counties is frightening to consider. Both the Irish and UK governments should press to change the planned implementation asap. #Think32 #NIPolitics #Ireland #UKPolitics #GFA
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/tourism-in-northern-ireland-risks-210m-loss-a-year-as-new-eta-comes-into-force/a720404297.html

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8d

What’s Mandelson up to? Is this really Kier Starmer’s message to Europe, or is Mandelson an outlier with this?
#UKPolitics #USPolitics #Ukraine #UnderhandBackstabbingSnake #EU #SlavaUkraini
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/03/peter-mandelson-ukraine-comments-not-government-policy-minister

EDIT & UPDATE - I’ve added the article using copy and paste here, because they sometimes disappear or change -

Peter Walker Senior political correspondent
Mon 3 Mar 2025 10.38 GMT

Peter Mandelson has been rebuffed for saying Volodymyr Zelenskyy should be more supportive of US peace efforts and that Ukraine should unilaterally call a ceasefire, with a UK defence minister saying this was “not government policy”.

The overnight comments by Lord Mandelson, the UK ambassador to Washington, were also criticised by opposition parties, with the Liberal Democrats saying Mandelson should not be “telling President Zelenskyy what to do”.

In an interview with ABC News, Mandelson, who was Keir Starmer’s choice to try to maintain ties with the second Donald Trump administration, said there was a need for a “very radical reset” after Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, berated Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday.

“The reset has to consist of the United States and Ukraine getting back on the same page, President Zelenskyy giving his unequivocal backing to the initiative that President Trump is taking to end the war and to bring a just and lasting peace to Ukraine,” Mandelson said.

“And the Europeans too, they need to back the calls for a ceasefire, and – by the way – I think that Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow.”

Asked whether this was government policy, Luke Pollard, the armed forces minister, replied: “No.” He told Sky News: “It’s certainly right that Ukrainians want peace. I think of all the people on our continent that want peace, the Ukrainians want it the most.

“But we’re still in discussions, diplomatic engagement with our European, US and Ukrainian friends as to the shape of that deal. It’s certainly right that the war could stop tomorrow if President Putin stopped his illegal and unprovoked aggression. He could stop this war.”

Asked if Mandelson had been incorrect with his comments, Pollard said: “That’s not government policy.”

Earlier, senior figures in the Lib Dems and Conservatives criticised Mandelson’s intervention. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, tweeted: “What is Mandelson up to? You cannot square what the prime minister said this morning with this. What is the government’s actual position? Our man in DC should be securing US protection for our brave Ukrainian allies, not telling President Zelenskyy what to do.”

James Cleverly, a former Conservative foreign secretary, said: “The UK ambassador to Washington isn’t meant to communicate his own opinion, he is meant to communicate the UK government opinion. Lammy and Starmer need to grip this.”

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Peter Mandelson criticised after saying Ukraine should give ‘unequivocal backing’ to Trump’s plan – UK politics live

Edited 8d ago

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40d

NEW REPORT: UK Political Parties' canvassing apps threaten voter privacy with security vulnerabilities and commercially owned infrastructure.

Data is driving elections, deciding how to focus efforts and target messaging. We lose in a data arms race.