Protocol crisis is ‘serious’

THE crisis surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol is ‘very serious’, British prime minister Boris Johnson told the Taoiseach.

It comes amid reports that UK foreign secretary Liz Truss is drawing up legislation that would kill the North’s special trading agreement with the EU and would lead to a ‘trade war’ with the bloc, according to her own advisers.

There are signs of a rift within the UK cabinet as some ministers think the legislation is too radical and provocative. In a Downing Street account of a call made from Mr Johnson to Micheál Martin yesterday, he told the Taoiseach that the balance of the Good Friday Agreement was being undermined and the recent Northern elections had further demonstrated that the protocol was not sustainable in its current form. An Irish Government spokesman said the Taoiseach had urged Mr Johnson ‘to engage in intensified EU-UK discussions’.

The spokesman added: ‘He set out clearly his serious concerns at any unilateral action.’