EU slaps Britain with FOUR lawsuits over Northern Ireland deal

BRUSSELS last night sued Britain over the enforcement of postBrexit trading rules in Northern Ireland.

The European Commission claims in four lawsuits that the UK is failing to implement agreed customs paperwork on goods sent from the province to the mainland and refusing to implement rules on tax and excise duties.

The move comes less than 24 hours after MPs passed legislation to ditch checks by creating a ‘green lane’ for goods being sent to Ulster.

The province has effectively remained in the EU single market and customs union under a protocol agreed by Boris Johnson.

The EU’s move could lead to the UK facing fines of millions of pounds because the agreement puts the European Court of Justice in charge of policing the deal.

The commission insists the UK has been unwilling ‘ to engage in meaningful discussion since last February’ over the issues. But a UK Government spokesman said: ‘It is disappointing to see that the EU has chosen to bring forward further legal action, particularly on goods leaving Northern Ireland for Great Britain which self- evidently present no risk to the EU single market.

‘A legal dispute is in nobody’s interest and will not fix the problems facing the people and businesses of Northern Ireland. The EU is left no worse off as a result of the proposals we have made in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. We will review the EU’s arguments and respond in due course.’

The commission’s Brexit enforcer, Slovak diplomat Maros Sefcovic, has warned that non-compliance with the protocol would mean British goods being hit with punitive tariffs in a trade war.

The commission has also circulated a memo to MEPs and EU officials entitled ‘unsubstantiated claims about the Northern Ireland protocol’. It contains talking points for Eurocrats to use in media interviews, arguing that UK goods could illegally enter the bloc’s single market via Northern Ireland unless proper checks are carried out.

The memo also rubbishes the UK Government’s view that the protocol is undermining the Good Friday Agreement.

However the pro-Brexit DUP is refusing to join the powersharing Stormont Assembly set up under that 1998 Belfast peace deal. Its leaders say the protocol threatens Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and disrupts internal trade.

In a leaked transcript of a private meeting with MEPs, senior commission adviser Richard Szostak accused Foreign Secretary Liz Truss of lacking ‘the political will’ to broker a truce.

‘It is too easy to say that both sides need to compromise,’ Mr Stozak said. ‘I would not put the approach of the EU on this matter on a par with the approach of the UK.’

A campaign spokesman for Tory leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak said: ‘The European Commission is interfering with our sovereign right to control our own e- commerce rules and set our own taxes.

‘As a believer in Brexit from the beginning, Rishi has been clear that he would continue with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill until and unless the EU says it is willing to come to the table to renegotiate the contents of the protocol.

‘Based on what we have seen today, the commission is committed to taking petty and unwelcome steps that infringe on our sovereign rights, rather than addressing the real issues around the protocol.’

Raoul Ruparel, a former Downing Street Brexit adviser, said the commission’s move was unwise and Mr Sunak and his rival Miss Truss would take a tougher stance.

‘The timing makes it even harder for either leadership candidate to signal any compromise,’ he added.