UK accuses Pelosi of ‘bullying’ after warning on Protocol
WASHINGTON has been accused of trying to ‘bully’ the UK over Northern Ireland trade.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress will not support a free trade deal with Britain if the British government persists with ‘deeply concerning’ plans to ‘unilaterally discard’ the Northern Ireland Protocol, which allows the North free trade with the EU.
Former Tory cabinet minister John Redwood accused her of ‘idle threats’, stressing that ‘a majority of UK voters do not accept bullying from abroad’.
‘Pelosi should talk to unionists’
DUP MP Sammy Wilson tweeted: ‘As far as people who understand Northern Ireland go, Speaker Pelosi is at the “back of the queue”.’ This was a reference to Barack Obama saying when president that Britain would be at the back of the queue for a trade deal with the US if it quit the EU.
The Protocol, which effectively treats the North in many ways as being in the EU single market, was agreed by Boris Johnson’s government as part of a Brexit deal with the European Union.
But the British government is now seeking to alter it because British goods entering the North have to be inspected before crossing into the Republic or other EU countries.
Yesterday, Micheál Martin accused Johson’s government of ‘moving the goalposts’ over its approach to the Protocol.
The Taoiseach was in Belfast meeting with party leaders amid ongoing deadlock at Stormont.
Mr Martin said: ‘On the UK government side, we haven’t quite got a clear landing zone. The goalposts do keep moving in that respect. What was produced this week by the UK government again indicates a widening of the picture in respect of resolving the issues of the Protocol.’
British foreign secretary Liz Truss this week announced plans to legislate to override parts of the Brexit withdrawal treaty to be able to unilaterally change the Protocol.
But Mrs Pelosi warned: ‘It is deeply concerning that the United Kingdom is now seeking to unilaterally discard the Northern Ireland Protocol.
‘If the United Kingdom chooses to undermine the Good Friday accords, the Congress cannot and will not support a bilateral free trade agreement with the United Kingdom.’
Mr Redwood tweeted: ‘Nancy Pelosi should talk to unionists in Northern Ireland about the damage the EU is doing to the Northern Ireland Protocol. It is the EU not the UK that has undermined it and led to the breakdown of the Assembly. UK legislation is needed to repair the EU damage.’