PM gives more time to f ix Stormont stalemate

But unionists reject blunt ‘Get back to work’ appeal

UNIONISTS last night threatened to continue their boycott of power sharing in Northern Ireland – despite Boris Johnson vowing to bring forward a ‘legislative solution’ to post-Brexit trade problems.

Liz Truss will today vow to bring forward new laws this summer to suspend parts of the Brexit deal unless the EU backs down on the issue.

In an update to MPs this afternoon, the Foreign Secretary will warn Brussels it has only weeks to avoid the UK taking unilateral action to ‘fix’ the notorious Northern Ireland Protocol.

But, in a blow to the Premier, the Democratic Unionist Party last night rejected a direct appeal to ‘get back to work’.

Speaking after a meeting with the PM, party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the threat of legislation was not enough to persuade his party to rejoin the powersharing agreement at Stormont.

‘The tabling of legislation is words,’ he said. ‘What I need is decisive action. And that means I want to see the Government enacting legislation that will bring the solution that we need.’

Sir Jeffrey said the Protocol was ‘damaging the economy, creating political insta

‘Protocol damaging the economy’

bility and undermining the relationship with the rest of the country.’

He urged the PM to call the EU’s bluff and tear up the whole Northern Ireland Protocol. ‘Does anyone seriously believe that, with war in Europe, the EU wants to start a trade war with the UK and punish the Northern Ireland people for upholding the Belfast Good Friday Agreement,’ he said.

Mr Johnson, who held talks with all five of Northern Ireland’s parties yesterday, confirmed that he had told the DUP he wanted them ‘back in the executive’. But, despite the DUP’s stance, he insisted he had made ‘progress’ towards the restoration of the Stormont Assembly.

Ministers have been locked in negotiations with the EU for 16 months over the future of the Protocol, which critics say drives a wedge between Northern Ireland and the EU. The deal lets the EU conduct checks on goods sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland to prevent any risk that unchecked products could enter the single market via the Republic of Ireland.

But critics accuse Brussels of taking a heavy-handed approach, with onerous checks leading to price rises and shortages and threatening to upset the Province’s delicate political balance.

Last week, Whitehall sources predicted that Miss Truss would publish new laws today that would allow ministers to unilaterally suspend parts of the Protocol. But she will instead announce an intention to bring forward legislation this summer. The new plans would scrap checks on goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland unless they were destined to go on to the Republic.

Firms caught breaking the rules by smuggling goods into the single market would face tough penalties. The new plans are also expected to end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Northern Ireland.

And ministers will take powers to change all tax rates after it emerged the Protocol means Rishi Sunak cannot alter VAT rates in Northern Ireland. Speaking in Belfast, the PM said ministers would now continue talking to Brussels while also drawing up new laws as an ‘insurance’ policy. Mr Johnson said he would ‘love this to be done in a consensual way with our friends and partners’ in Brussels, ‘ironing out the problems, stopping some of these barriers’ to goods crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain.

‘But to get that done, to have the insurance, we need to proceed with a legislative solution at the same time,’ he said. Brussels has warned that unilateral action by the UK over the Protocol would trigger a trade war.

In a Belfast Telegraph article yesterday, the PM said: ‘I think everybody should be rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in to the government of Northern Ireland.’ But Sinn Fein, now the largest party, accused the PM of colluding with the DUP.