We have to act over Ulster’s stalemate, Britain warns EU

THE UK will be left with ‘no choice’ but to tear up parts of the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland unless Brussels shows flexibility, Liz Truss warned yesterday.

The Foreign Secretary told the EU that the hated Northern Ireland Protocol is the ‘greatest obstacle’ to forming a Stormont executive.

But Brussels accused her of failing to engage in talks to solve the issues.

EU negotiator Maros Sefcovic said: ‘The UK has simply not taken the opportunity to explore fully with us the potential of the flexibilities the [European] Commission has presented.’

Ministers are preparing to rip up parts of the protocol as early as next week after Brussels ruled out renegotiating the deal.

The Government has drawn up legislation to unilaterally suspend border checks on goods flowing from Great

‘Priority is to protect peace’

Britain to Northern Ireland. In a crunch phone call yesterday, Miss Truss told Mr Sefcovic that the UK’s ‘overriding priority is to protect peace and stability in Northern Ireland’.

A spokesman said the Foreign Secretary stressed that unless the EU shows the ‘requisite flexibility to help solve those issues, then as a responsible Government we would have no choice but to act’.

Boris Johnson told broadcasters yesterday that the ‘institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement aren’t functioning’ and political governance in Northern Ireland has ‘collapsed’.

Speaking in Stoke-on-Trent, the Prime Minister said: ‘The people of Northern Ireland need leadership, they need a regional, a provincial government... [and] they haven’t got that.

‘That’s a real, real problem. And the reason they don’t have that is because there’s one community in Northern Ireland that won’t accept the way the protocol works at present – we’ve got to fix that.’

Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis gave a speech during a visit to Brussels in which he pressed for ‘significant changes’.

Mr Ellis said: ‘We will continue to talk with the EU but we won’t let that stand in the way of protecting peace and political stability in Northern Ireland.

‘As the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have made clear, we will take action to protect the Belfast [Good Friday] Agreement if solutions cannot be found.’

Tensions have been mounting for months over the protocol, which requires the Government to impose checks on some goods crossing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland to maintain an open border with the Republic.

But ministers have highlighted the burden on Northern Irish businesses and warned they could unilaterally ditch the protocol unless major changes are made.

Brussels could respond by suspending the entire Brexit deal, sparking an all-out trade war.

The Democratic Unionist Party has vowed to continue boycotting the Northern Ireland executive until ‘meaningful action’ is taken.