Liz Truss was warned to “dial down” talk of ripping up the Northern Ireland Protocol on Monday by the EU’s Brexit negotiator as the province’s leaders are set to meet in Belfast.
Maros Sefcovic, a European Commission vice-president, said British politicians should be “honest about the deal they signed” instead of plotting to unilaterally override the Brexit deal in the wake of the local elections.
“We need the UK Government to dial down the rhetoric, be honest about the deal they signed and agree to find solutions within its framework,” he told the Politico news website.
His intervention came amid growing suggestions the Government could introduce legislation to scrap chunks of the Brexit withdrawal agreement relating to Northern Ireland because of trade frictions with Great Britain.
Long-running talks between Britain and the EU over how to reduce trade disruptions caused by the introduction of the protocol, which has created a trade border in the Irish Sea, have been deadlocked for months.
Downing Street argues the post-Brexit border measures have had a chilling effect on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and insisted the Government could take unilateral action to cancel the required trade checks.
Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, said “nothing is off the table” during the negotiations to tackle these concerns.
“Our priority is to deal with the priority head on,” she told Sky News on Monday. “We have a duty towards the people of Northern Ireland. They are a fundamental part of the UK.
“The Northern Ireland Protocol is not working and I believe the concerns about that were reflected in the recent results we saw in the election. We are working at pace to resolve this. Nothing is off the table.”
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Unionist parties, who lost out to nationalist parties on securing the largest share of seats in Stormont for the first time last week, have said they won’t enter into a power sharing arrangement while the protocol is still in place.
Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA, secured 27 of the 90 seats in the Northern Ireland Executive, putting it ahead of the Democratic Unionist Party.
Ahead of a meeting of Stormont’s five main political leaders, Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, said the province deserves “a stable and accountable devolved government”.
“We have to address the outstanding issues relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol, and we want to do that by agreement with the EU, but as we have always made clear, we will not shy away from taking further steps if necessary,” he added.
“However, the people of Northern Ireland need a stable and accountable government that delivers on the issues that are important to them. That is why we urge the parties to come together and form an Executive.”
British proposals at loggerheads with EU
Britain’s preparations to unilaterally override parts of the protocol have put it at loggerheads with the EU, which has threatened legal action if the Brexit deal is partially scrapped.
João Vale de Almeida, the EU’s ambassador to the UK, said the EU would discuss proposals to cut customs checks but not renegotiate the post-Brexit border measures wholesale.
“In the last two months we’ve been working hand in hand with the British government at all levels, including my level, to address the problem raised by the invasion of Ukraine,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Why? Because we share the same values and we have the same strategic concerns about the situation in Europe. And that led us to realise that, in fact, we have more that unites us than what divides us.
“We should try to be inspired by what we did in the last two months, and not what we did in the last two years [of Brexit negotiations].”
Brussels has offered to work in the confines of the protocol to ease the burden of trade checks in the Irish Sea on businesses in Northern Ireland.
But British officials argue this does not go far enough to address the issues caused by the post-border fix.
