UK moves to rewrite Northern Ireland Protocol, outlined in Queen’s Speech

THE UK’s desire to rewrite the Northern Ireland protocol was absent in detail from the Queen’s Speech yesterday, amid reports that domestic legislation is being prepared to override large chunks of the Brexit deal.

While the UK repeated its warning that it will take necessary steps to address problems caused by the protocol, no named bill or signal of future legislation was included in the speech, which sets out the government’s agenda for the next parliamentary session.

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party said yesterday it won’t join a new government with the nationalists Sinn Fein following last week’s election until decisive action is taken by the UK on the protocol. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement the posts of first minister and deputy first minister – effectively one nationalist and one unionist – are equal and one cannot be in place without the other.

The protocol is the biggest outstanding issue resulting from Britain’s split with the EU. The UK has long threatened to tear up the post-Brexit settlement, which saw the creation of an effective customs border between the region and the rest of the UK, but are yet to follow through on their threats. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will next week scrap large parts of the protocol in British law after losing faith in the negotiations. The draft legislation would unilaterally remove the need for checks on goods being sent from Britain to Northern Ireland and would allow businesses to disregard EU rules.

“In the interests of all communities of Northern Ireland, the Protocol needs to change,” the UK said in the Queen’s Speech. “We urge our partners in the EU to work with us.”

The Foreign Office said yesterday no decisions had yet been taken, calling the situation “now very serious” .

The opposition Labour Party said the government “risks a trade war during a cost of living crisis” if it does move to scrap the Protocol.

The government also pledged yesterday to give the Irish language official recognition in law, a condition Sinn Fein had demanded.

The DUP’s refusal to form an executive is “punishing the public”, said Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill, in line to be the region’s first minister. “The public can’t be a pawn in the British Government’s game of chicken with the EU. Form an executive now.”