Truss told: Follow Thatcher over NI
FOREIGN Secretary Liz Truss is being urged to follow the example of Margaret Thatcher as she prepares for the latest round of Brexit negotiations to prevent a crisis in Northern Ireland.
Ms Truss is expected to travel to Brussels this week to try to thrash out a deal on problems with the protocol, which she fears are a threat to peace in the province.
She wants to get a deal done before the Stormont elections in May – in which Sinn Fein is expected to be the biggest party – and is urging the EU to show greater “pragmatism”.
Brexiteers are pushing Ms Truss to demand sweeping changes to the protocol and not to settle for changes to customs checks arrangements.
Sammy Wilson, one of the DUP’S most ardent eurosceptics, urged Ms Truss, who is considered a leading contender to succeed Boris Johnson in any future leadership election, to follow the example of Lady Thatcher.
He said: “Mrs Thatcher won the
heart of her party and the country by famously standing up to the EU, defying their unreasonable budget demands in the 1980s.
“She was a true leader who spoke the language of the ordinary people of the UK and was not constrained by the diplomatic double-speak of the civil service establishment.
“She threatened to use her handbag on the intransigent EU politicians and she succeeded. Liz Truss should learn from the leader she appears to want to emulate.”
On Thursday, Ms Truss and EU vicepresident Maros Sefcovic met for the first time since she took over responsibility for negotiations with the EU following Lord Frost’s resignation.
They met at her official country residence, Chevening House, in Kent, and at dinner had Scottish smoked salmon, Welsh lamb, Kent apple pie and Northern Ireland whiskey.
Mr Wilson said: “There is no harm in Liz Truss having pleasant dinners with Maros Sefcovic but she should keep the handbag under the table ready for use.”
He also warned against striking a deal that failed to address his main concerns about the protocol, which is blamed for disrupting trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
He said: “So far she has talked tough but there are already worrying signs the diplomatic caution of the Foreign Office, and the insistence of the EU that the protocol is sacrosanct, is limiting her ambition.”
But a source close to Ms Truss said: “Fundamentally, the EU will need to be more flexible if we want to get a deal. Liz’s top priority is defending peace in Northern Ireland.”