BRITAIN TO INSIST ON MAJOR OVERHAUL OF BREXIT DEAL, DESPITE END OF SAUSAGE BAN
SWEEPING changes to the UK’S post-brexit deal with the EU will be demanded this week – with Brussels being called on to go “far beyond” scrapping the ban on British-made sausages going to Northern Ireland.
Cabinet Office minister Lord Frost will use a speech in Lisbon to warn that the peace process is under threat and elements of the Northern Ireland protocol will have to be unilaterally suspended if rapid solutions are not found.
The protocol was intended to avoid the need for border checks in Ireland, but there is Unionist fury at the obstacles to trade with the rest of the UK.
The European Union is expected onwednesday to propose allowing sausages and chilled meat products to continue to be exported from the UK to Northern Ireland after the current grace period ends.
But Lord Frost will insist on Tuesday that the bloc has to make much bigger changes.
There is deep concern at the instability in Northern Ireland, with DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson warning last month his party is prepared to quit Stormont, with ministers in the powersharing government resigning their posts unless its demands are met.
Lord Frost will say that the UK would like a better relationship with the EU, but making it clear that this cannot happen without changes to the protocol.
The Government insists that “genuinely good relations” will be difficult if the EU keeps in place the trading arrangements which it fears now risk undermining the Good Friday Agreement.
Brussels would be expected to retaliate if the UK unilaterally suspended the protocol, but this is likely to come in the form of targeted sanctions against specific products.
The stability of Northern Ireland’s institutions and the parties’ commitment to powersharing may be tested after the next elections, due in May – particularly if Sinn Fein becomes the largest party and wins the First Minister position for the first time.
Tensions between Unionists and the Republic may also escalate if Sinn Fein, which already has the highest number of members in the Irish parliament, enters government in Dublin.
Continuing volatility in the province was demonstrated by the worst rioting in years in the spring.
A Cabinet minister described the present situation as “troubling”. Lord Frost plans to begin
“intensive” talks very soon but the Government is adamant that “endless negotiation is not an option”. A key area of controversy is the role of the European Court of Justice in settling disputes.
And this week Lord Frost will give the EU Commission a new legal text setting out proposals for change. He is expected to say: “No one should be in any doubt about the seriousness of the situation. That is why we are working to reflect the concerns of everyone in Northern Ireland, from all sides of the political spectrum, to make sure that the peace process is not undermined.
“The EU now needs to show ambition and willingness to tackle the fundamental issues at the heart of the protocol head on. The UK-EU relationship is under strain, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
“By putting the protocol on a durable footing, we have the opportunity to move past the difficulties of the past year.
“The Commission has been too quick to dismiss governance as a side issue. The reality is the opposite. The role of the European Court of Justice in Northern Ireland and the consequent inability of the UK Government to implement the very sensitive arrangements in the protocol in a reasonable way has created a deep imbalance in the way the protocol operates.
“Without new arrangements in this area the protocol will never have the support it needs to survive.”
A Government source added: “Whether they’re in London, Dublin, Brussels or Belfast, nearly everyone now agrees that the protocol isn’t working as it should.
“That is a big change from the start of the year and we are glad the Commission is now working on solutions.
“The real question now is whether the EU is prepared for the scale of changes needed.
“We will look carefully and constructively at whatever proposals the EU brings forward.
“Our negotiating teams are ready to work intensively and rapidly to try to find a solution, and we expect to be doing so very soon. The prize on offer is a stronger UK-EU relationship which is focused on the future.
“But tinkering around the edges just won’t work.
“If the EU can’t show ambition and agree significant changes to the protocol, we will have to use Article 16 to make sure arrangements are in place that do safeguard the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and the peace process.”