Johnson told to drop Brexit or lose US deal

LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing fresh warnings from senior US politicians to “abandon” plans to unilaterally override the Brexit withdrawal agreement, or jeopardise the prospect of a future trade deal with Washington.

The joint comments from four congressmen, led by the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Elliot Engel, came as the prime minister’s proposed legislation cleared the first hurdle in the Commons on Monday evening.

Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis conceded last week that the Internal Markets Bill breaks international law in a “very specific and limited way”, leading to condemnation from across the political spectrum.

Highlighting the potentially fatal impact of the bill on the prospect of a free trade agreement with the US, the congressmen wrote in a letter to the prime minister: “We were so disturbed by the reports about your government’s efforts to undermine the Northern Ireland protocol of the withdrawal agreement that, if true, could have disastrous for the Good Friday Agreement and broader process to maintain peace on the island of Ireland.

“We appreciate the challenges that your country faces as it stares down the Oct 15 deadline for a negotiated agreement – but an Ireland divided by a hard border risks inflaming old tensions that very much still fester today and undoing decades of progress that the United States, Republic of Ireland, and United Kingdom achieved together.”

The senior politicians said they agreed with the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who last week claimed there would be “absolutely no chance” of a trade deal with Washington passing Congress should the government “imperil” the Good Friday Agreement.

The letter added: “If these reported plans were to go forward it would be difficult to see how these conditions would be met.” – The Independent