Colin Murray

Event Recordings: Brexit and Identity in Northern Ireland

The ‘Performing Identities’ team hosted two lunchtime events on 23/24 June 2021, marking the culmination of a total of 5 years of work on ESRC-funded projects examining Brexit, Northern Ireland and legal, political and social dynamics of both.

In the first event, the PI team came together virtually to present some key findings from research that had been completed as part of the current project, which commenced in early 2019. This concluded with a Q&A.

A recording of this full event is now available below, along with time indicators for each part of the session.

Schedule

00.13 – Colin Murray (‘Rooting Around in Archives: The Protocol in Context’)

13.06 – Ben Warwick (Citizenship and Brexit)

24.21 – Megan Armstrong and Clare Rice (Brexit and Identity in Northern Ireland)

41.38 – Sylvia de Mars and Aoife O’Donoghue (Multi-level Governance and Brexit)

49.25 – Discussion and Conclusion

Performing Identities: Brexit and Northern Ireland – Part 1

On Thursday 24th June 2021, we hosted a second lunchtime event – a panel discussion focused on the theme of identity in Northern Ireland.

The purpose of this session was to engage in conversation about different perspectives on identity in Northern Ireland and to explore how the often overlooked complexity and diversity of identity in this context interacts with the traditionally binary conceptions along religious and/or constitutional lines.

The esteemed panel included:

Emma DeSouza (Rights Campaigner; Writer)

Mark Devenport (Former Political Editor, BBC NI)

Linda Ervine MBE (Director, Turas; President, East Belfast GAA)

Susan McKay (Journalist; Author of ‘Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground’ – available to purchase here)

John O’Doherty (Director, The Rainbow Project)

Danielle Roberts (Women’s Rights Activist)

A recording of the full discussion, hosted online, is available below.

Performing Identities: Brexit and Northern Ireland – Part 2 (Identity)

PI’s Megan Armstrong also live-tweeted the session, and her summary thread can be found here.

BLOG: ‘Vichy France and Vassalage: Hyperbole versus the Northern Ireland Protocol’

PI’s Colin Murray has analysed the decision reached in the legal case on the Northern Ireland Protocol yesterday.

In his analysis, Colin examines each of the five grounds argued in the case and situates these in wider legal context. He also considers the interaction between the case and sensitive political dynamics at play within Northern Ireland currently in relation to the Protocol.

The full article can be freely accessed here.

BLOG: ‘The Northern Ireland Protocol is currently caught between an untrusting Brussels and an unrealistic London’

PI’s Colin Murray has authored an article examining how differences in understanding the purpose of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland has led to difficulties between the UK and the EU in relation to addressing its challenges.

Published by LSE British Politics and Policy, the article highlights that until a common understanding of the Protocol’s purpose is reached, it is unlikely that agreement will be achieved on some of its more contentious aspects.

The full article is available to read here: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/northern-ireland-protocol/

In short, there seems to be very little point in discussing technical/legal fixes at the moment, because the key actors are talking at such cross-purposes that the most contentious protocol issues cannot be resolved. 

Colin Murray

Article: ‘The Anglo-British imaginary and the rebuilding of the UK’s territorial constitution after Brexit: unitary state or union state?’

‘Territory, Politics and Governance’ has published an article co-authored by PI’s Colin Murray with Daniel Wincott and Greg Davies (both Cardiff University).

The Anglo-British imaginary and the rebuilding of the UK’s territorial constitution after Brexit: unitary state or union state?‘ presents a fascinating examination of the interaction between the Internal Market Act and conflicting understandings of the UK’s constitution.

“The need to replace European law as a foundation of the UK internal market, and the UK Government’s attempts to exert control over this transition, has produced a sustained debate about what the union means after Brexit.”

Wincott, Murray and Davies, 2021

The full paper is available to read here: https://rsa.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21622671.2021.1921613?src=#.YKPX8ahKjIV

A working version (freely available) can also be accessed here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3831946

Evidence Submission to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee ‘Citizenship and Passport Processes’ Inquiry

PI’s Colin Murray and Clare Rice have submitted evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee as part of the ‘Citizenship and Passport Processes in Northern Ireland’ Inquiry.

The submission examines some of the post-Brexit complexities that Brexit has given rise to in Northern Ireland for citizenship, particularly in relation to the provisions of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement.

Their submission is available to download here:


This is a topic that the PI has also written extensively on, including a report for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. See ‘Continuing EU Citizenship “Rights, Opportunities and Benefits” in Northern Ireland after Brexit‘ for more analysis on this.

Evidence Submitted to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee – ‘Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol’ Inquiry

PI’s Colin Murray and Clare Rice have submitted evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in relation to its ‘Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol’ Inquiry.

This submission takes some initial stock of the early outworking of the Protocol in Northern Ireland, identifying some of the key challenges that have been faced and the reasons for these. It also examines Article 16 of the Protocol, and considers some practical and political dynamics around Article 18’s democratic consent provision for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Evidence to Bill of Rights Committee

PI’s Colin Murray and Clare Rice have submitted evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Ad-hoc Committee on a Bill of Rights. This evidence has been submitted in response to the Committee’s on-going call for evidence covering different perspectives on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.

The Committee is also conducting an online survey [available here] to gather a range of views – the deadline for completing this is 29th January 2021.

In the meantime, Colin and Clare’s submission can be viewed here:

Evidence to NIAC – Cross-border co-operation on policing, security and criminal justice after Brexit

Colin Murray joined a panel of experts on Wednesday 13th January to provide oral evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee as part of its ‘Cross-border co-operation on policing, security and criminal justice after Brexit’ inquiry.

Colin joined Gemma Davies (Associate Professor, Northumbria Law School at Northumbria University), Prof. Valsamis Mitsilegas (School of Law at Queen Mary University of London), and Prof. Steve Peers (School of Law at University of Essex).

The session covered a range of important areas, including access to data, extradition, UK post-Brexit security and UK-Ireland cooperation.

The full session is available to watch back at this link: https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/752c46b4-216b-4bab-af4c-e4fda8309344

Colin Murray, as quoted in The Irish Times: “You take this brick out then this co-operation win that has come as part of the agreement will simply fall away”
Colin Murray providing historical context to the new suspect surrender arrangements under the TCA

We will also be sharing further updates and analysis on this over on our Twitter account @performidentity