UK to unveil plans for post-brexit trade in N Ireland
Britain was set to detail yesterday how it plans to overhaul post-brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland which have sparked a political crisis in the province, amid fears it is risking a UK-EU trade war.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will "set out the rationale for our approach" in a statement to MPS in parliament, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman.
The UK government is yet to confirm what that entails, but media reports have said it is planning legislation allowing London to unilaterally override some of the rules around Northern Irish trade.
London wants to rewrite the socalled Northern Ireland protocol, which it agreed as part of its 2019 divorce deal with the European Union, amid trading frictions since it came into force last year.
The arrangements, which mandate checks on goods arriving into Northern Ireland from England, Scotland and Wales, have angered the province's unionists who claim they undermine its place within the UK.
The largest pro-british party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), is currently refusing to resume power-sharing in Belfast with proirish rivals Sinn Fein until the protocol is reworked.
Its stance comes nearly two weeks after Sinn Fein won a historic first victory in elections for the devolved Stormont assembly, which entitle the party to the role of first minister in a joint executive with the DUP.
'Legislative solution'
The impasse threatens to leave Northern Ireland, which suffered three decades of sectarian conflict until a 1997 accord largely ended the violence, without a government.
Johnson is adamant the current situation risks peace and stability in Northern Ireland and that his government has the right to act if the EU refuses to meet its demands.
"We don't want to scrap it, but we think it can be fixed," he told reporters during a visit on Monday to Northern Ireland to meet its political leaders.
"We would love this to be done in a consensual way with our friends and partners, ironing out the problems... but to get that done, to have the insurance, we need to proceed with a legislative solution at the same time," he added, referring to the planned legislation.
Reports say the mooted draft law, which will allow UK ministers to selectively disapply parts of the protocol, may not be tabled yet and would in any case take months to progress through parliament.
That could prove insufficient to persuade unionists to resume power-sharing in Northern Ireland, with the DUP saying on Monday it needed "decisive action" not "the tabling of legislation".
The EU, which has been in discussions for months with the UK over improving the implementation of the protocol, has insisted it cannot be renegotiated.