Blair: Protocol row risks Good Friday deal

TONY BLAIR has warned the problems “at the heart” of the Northern Ireland Protocol will put the Good Friday Agreement at risk unless the EU makes a “significant” shift from its hardline stance on border checks.

The former prime minister, who negotiated and signed the 1998 peace deal, urged Brussels and No 10 to show “maximum flexibility” and thrash out a compromise that would slash red tape on goods heading from Great Britain to the province. His intervention will heap pressure on the EU to drop its refusal to renegotiate the protocol.

A new report by the Tony Blair Institute

for Global Change also warned the row over Northern Ireland risks fracturing the Western Alliance against Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine. “If left unresolved, the issues at the heart of the protocol have the capability of causing an enlarged trade conflict between the UK and the EU, or undermining the Good Friday Agreement,” Mr Blair said.

“In the interests of broader European harmony and trade – especially at a time when Europe, including the UK, has come together impressively over Ukraine – both the EU and the UK should show maximum flexibility in order to reach an agreement.”

Mr Blair said the “landing zone” for an agreement to revamp the border agreement is in sight but that it “would require significant movement from the EU on its position around the protocol’s interpretation”.

Unionists and No 10 have argued that the current deal puts the Good Friday Agreement at risk and blame the EU’S interpretation of the rules – which has been denied by Brussels and Dublin.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is expected to table legislation in the Commons as early as next week that would give the Government powers to override swathes of the protocol and ditch many checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

The EU has threatened a robust response including triggering legal action against the UK.