UK would prefer Protocol deal, says Truss
BRITAIN’S “firm preference” is to negotiate a Northern Ireland Protocol deal with Brussels rather than tear up the Brexit treaty that created the Irish Sea border, Liz Truss said yesterday.
The Foreign Secretary stressed the UK was “open” for more talks but warned that problems were “baked into” the Protocol, which she said needed substantial renegotiation.
“It does not mean ripping up the Protocol, but it does mean changes to the Protocol itself,” Ms Truss said.
The EU insists it will not enter into a wholesale renegotiation of the Protocol but will discuss ways of improving it working within the framework of the existing treaty. Brussels has rejected Ms Truss’s demand that Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice-president, be given a negotiating mandate to make wholesale changes to the Protocol.
Ms Truss said: “The problems of the Protocol are baked into the existing legal text. Without changes to this mandate, we cannot fix the problems.”
In The Irish Times, Ms Truss struck a conciliatory tone after US accusations that threats to unilaterally override the Protocol endangered the Good Friday Agreement. Ms Truss said: “While our door remains open to talks, we cannot allow any more drift or delay.”
But she doubled down on claims the Protocol was putting the peace process at risk because it had lost the consent of unionists. “These problems are putting the Belfast Agreement under strain,” she said. “After 18 months of trying to make it work, it is clear the current arrangements are not sustainable.”
She said the 2019 Brexit agreement, which introduced checks on British goods entering Northern Ireland, was the “biggest obstacle” to the restoration of power-sharing in Stormont.
The DUP, which lost its majority to Sinn Fein in May 5 elections, has blocked a new Northern Ireland Executive until the Protocol is removed or replaced. Ms Truss claimed legislation to override parts of the treaty would protect the Good Friday accords and help convince the DUP to join a new Northern Ireland Assembly.