UK, EU sausage war sizzles in wake of Brexit

UK ANGER with Europe sizzled yesterday after a sausage-themed dispute between the British and French leaders over post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland.

Brussels is equally angered at London’s refusal to implement checks on goods heading into Northern Ireland from England, Scotland and Wales.

Talks broke down earlier this week, and the EU is threatening retaliation if Britain unilaterally extends a grace period for trade in chilled meat, including sausages, next month.

The issue was raised again when Prime Minister Boris Johnson met French President Emmanuel Macron for talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit in England on Saturday.

Johnson asked the French leader to imagine a situation where Toulouse sausages could not be sold in Paris, which left Macron “astonished”.

“He … told him Toulouse is part of the same territory, which is not the case for Northern Ireland” because it is separated from Great Britain by the Irish Sea, the source said. “These are different geographical configurations and we are comparing things that are absolutely not comparable.”

Johnson was furious. “Northern Ireland and Britain are part of the same country,” he reportedly told Macron.

The exchange explains Johnson’s comments on Saturday that “some of our friends … do seem to misunderstand that the UK is a single country and a single territory” threatening to suspend the Brexit trading arrangements if the situation is not resolved.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab went further yesterday in demanding the EU show more “respect” for the UK’s territorial integrity. “We have seen senior EU figures talk about Northern Ireland as if it were somehow a different country to the UK,” he said.

“Can you imagine if we talked about Catalonia, the Flemish part of Belgium, northern Italy, Corsican France, as different countries?”

French officials described the meeting as “tense”, although Johnson’s spokesperson insisted he and Macron still had a “constructive” relationship.

The Northern Ireland Protocol, signed separately from the Brexit trade deal agreed in December, is supposed to see checks on goods heading into the province from mainland Britain.

The arrangement effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the European customs union and single market that the UK left in January, to stop unchecked goods going to the bloc via neighbouring EU state Ireland. The protocol has inflamed lingering tensions between the UK and Northern Ireland, and has been blamed for recent violence.