PROTOCOL EU TRADE WAR FEARS
Warning if UK carries out plan to scrap deal
THE EU has threatened to retaliate with “all measures at its disposal” if the UK proceeds with controversial plans to rip up parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The British Foreign Secretary has set out her intention to bring forward legislation within weeks, overwriting parts of the post-brexit deal and freeing goods destined to stay within the UK from Eu-level checks.
Liz Truss told the Commons the move was needed to reduce “unnecessary bureaucracy” and to protect the Good Friday Agreement, arguing that the EU’S proposals “would go backward from the situation we have today”. She said the Bill would take measures to protect the EU single market by implementing “robust penalties” for those who “seek to abuse the new system”.
But European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic criticised her plan and warned that Brussels could retaliate.
Should the UK proceed with the Bill, the EU will respond with “all measures at its disposal”, he said. This is likely to aggravate fears the move could spark a trade war between Britain and Europe.
LEGISLATION
The legislation will propose separate “green” and “red” lanes for goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, drawing a line between those destined to stay within the UK and those heading to the Republic of Ireland and beyond.
There will be no crossover between the channels, it is understood, with goods filtering through one or the other, depending on their intended destination.
This will override the current arrangements, where Northern Ireland is effectively kept in the EU’S single market for goods, with a hard border down the Irish Sea.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said yesterday’s move was “welcome if overdue”, and a “significant” step towards getting power-sharing back up and running.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted problems with the Protocol must be addressed.
He said: “What that actually involves is getting rid of some relatively minor barriers to trade. I think there are good, common sense, pragmatic solutions. We need to work with our EU friends to achieve that.”
There are good common sense solutions.