If Liz Truss goes forward with her plan to rewrite the Northern Ireland Protocol, the European Commission has warned of an economically devastating trade war with the UK, promising to retaliate with “all measures at its disposal.”
On Tuesday, the foreign secretary announced intentions to introduce a bill to amend the protocol, including eliminating all inspections on goods transiting from the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland that are not bound for the Republic of Ireland.
She expressed optimism that the UK government will be able to agree on the adjustments it feels are required, calling them “comprehensive and reasonable.” Our preference is to reach a negotiated outcome with the EU. We have worked tirelessly to that end and will continue to do so,” she added.
However, she argued that the protocol, in its current form, jeopardised the Good Friday Agreement’s stability, which she stated was “under strain,” and that the government would act independently if required.
“To respond to the very grave and serious situation in Northern Ireland we are clear that there is a necessity to act to ensure the institutions can be restored as soon as possible,” Truss said.
Part of the government’s aim is to appease the Democratic Unionist Party, which has refused to enter a Stormont power-sharing government with Sinn Féin until the protocol is changed.
The DUP’s Westminster leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, said Truss’s statement was “a welcome if overdue step that is a significant move towards addressing the problems created by the protocol, and getting power-sharing, based upon a cross-community consensus, up and running again.”
Truss demanded that Maro Efovi, the EU’s top official in charge of UK relations, be granted a new negotiating mandate allowing the convention to be altered. However, in response to Truss’s remark, Efovi issued a veiled threat that if the UK followed forward, it would forfeit its free trade agreements with the EU.
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