Britain locks horns with EU over Northern Ireland Protocol
▶ Brussels has ruled out renegotiating the divisive post-Brexit compromise
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is expected today to tell the EU that a dispute over Northern Ireland and European trade rules cannot continue.
Ms Truss is to hold a call with European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic to push for changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol – a mechanism that left the UK region inside the EU’s single market and customs union after Brexit.
Earlier this week, Ms Truss said: “Our preference has always been for a negotiated solution but we will not shy away from taking action to stabilise the situation in Northern Ireland if solutions cannot be found.”
Officials working for Ms Truss are drawing up draft legislation to unilaterally remove the need for checks on all goods being sent from Great Britain for use in Northern Ireland.
The proposed law would allow businesses in Northern Ireland to disregard EU rules and regulations and remove the power of the European Court of Justice to rule on issues relating to the region.
Striking an agreement that preserved peace in Northern Ireland, protected the EU’s single market and avoided new borders on the island of Ireland and with Great Britain was always the biggest challenge for London as it left Europe.
It agreed on a protocol that effectively created a customs border in the sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, but Westminster now claims the required bureaucracy is intolerable.
The government has for months been threatening to rip up the protocol – potentially threatening a trade war with Europe at a time of soaring inflation – causing alarm bells to ring across Europe and in Washington.
UK Cabinet minister Michael Gove said yesterday that “no option is off the table” but insisted Britain would continue to negotiate to resolve differences over the protocol.
The Democratic Unionist Party, which came second in last week’s Assembly elections in Northern Ireland, warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson that it would not nominate a deputy first minister to form a devolved government in Belfast until “decisive action is taken on the protocol”.
European leaders have warned the British government against taking unilateral action over the situation. Mr Sefcovic said on Tuesday that the protocol is an international agreement and its “renegotiation is not an option”. He said the EU has worked tirelessly to propose solutions.
But Britain has claimed the EU proposals suggested in October would lead to trading arrangements deteriorating and everyday items disappearing from the shelves of shops in Northern Ireland.
“The current EU proposals fail to properly address the real issues affecting Northern Ireland,” Ms Truss said.
“Prices have risen, trade is being badly disrupted, and the people of Northern Ireland are subject to different laws and taxes than those over the Irish Sea, which has left them without an executive and poses a threat to peace and stability.”
The PA news agency was told that Ms Truss is poised to take further action in the coming weeks if negotiations with the EU continue to stall.
After Northern Ireland’s historic election result last week, Sinn Fein, an Irish nationalist party, is now the largest at Stormont. This means it is entitled to nominate a candidate to become the region’s First Minister.
Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill has said that the protocol is “here to stay”.
A proposed British law would allow businesses in Northern Ireland to disregard EU rules and regulations