Reforming the Protocol
What happened
Liz Truss confirmed this week that ministers would bring forward a new law to unilaterally suspend parts of the post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland, which she said was “undermining” the peace process. The Foreign Secretary stressed that the Government was seeking to fix, not scrap, the Protocol, and claimed the bill would be legal under international law. Truss said negotiations with the EU about the operation of the Protocol would continue “in parallel” with the passage of the law through the Commons, which could take up to a year. The EU said it was happy to continue discussions, but warned that it would “respond with all measures at its disposal” if the UK pushed ahead with the new legislation.
The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Jeffrey Donaldson, welcomed the proposed bill and said that his party would take “cautious” steps to re-engage with power sharing in Northern Ireland as it progresses. The DUP has refused to go into government with Sinn Féin at Stormont until reforms are made to the Protocol, which it says drives a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
What the editorials said
Downing Street is engaging in reckless brinkmanship, said the Irish Independent. Its position on the Protocol appears to be that it is prepared to be reasonable provided it’s given exactly what it wants; and if it isn’t, it will “take it anyway”. To risk provoking a trade war in this way is “massively irresponsible”. It’s a “disreputable” bid to deflect blame on to the EU, said The Guardian. To avoid a north-south hard border on the island of Ireland, Boris Johnson agreed in 2019 to a trade border in the Irish Sea, betraying an earlier promise to the DUP. He then made out that the border didn’t really exist, indicating that “he either didn’t understand his deal or didn’t intend to honour it; most likely both”.
The Protocol, signed under pressure, was always going to be a “deeply uncomfortable arrangement”, said the Daily Mail. But “with sensitive implementation it might have worked”. It’s the EU’s “heavy-handed”, punitive approach that has brought us to this pass. The EU hasn’t been obdurate, said The Economist. In October, it offered concessions that it said would eliminate up to 80% of checks at the sea border. Doubtless more can still be negotiated, but it will be hard to move things forward “if one side forfeits trust by reneging on the treaty”.