Former Brexit minister David Frost said the UK should not be afraid of a trade war with the EU.
In a provocative newspaper column, he said the United Kingdom “cannot be defeated” by Brussels and must “make sure it is ready” for the consequences of the unilateral move to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Foreign Minister Liz Truss plans next week to introduce legislation not to implement part of the protocol in a risky move, which could lead to sanctions or even the suspension of the trade deal agreed by Lord Frost in December 2020.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph about the potential move, Frost said: “We may, of course, face EU revenge, although it would be disproportionate to the trade involved, but only perhaps legal and completely self-destructive. I am not convinced that the heart of every EU member will be in this. Logic can still prevail. But if that happens, it will complicate things, but we should not be afraid of that. “
In addition to tensions with Europe, Jacob Rees-Mogg said on Friday that the EU “wants to make the UK feel bad that it has left the European Union”. But the Brexit minister told GB News that he doubted the EU would retaliate with something as severe as a trade war if the UK removed parts of the protocol, saying it would be “pretty stupid”.
He questioned whether Brussels would receive the support of all Member States at all. “The European Union will need unanimity, and it seems to me that this is a pretty high bar to achieve,” he told GB News on Friday.
He also said the EU would punish its own voters by waging a trade war amid rising inflation and a cost-of-living crisis. “Do they really want to make prices even higher for their consumers and their constituents?” I think this is an interesting and important question. “
“The EU … may decide that it wants an act of self-harm that is not under our control, but it would be quite foolish to do so,” he added.
The quake said there would be no choice but to act if the EU did not agree to the UK’s demands to lift checks on goods passing from Britain to Northern Ireland. It is a high-stakes move that tests relations with EU leaders, but is also scheduled to exploit Europe’s lack of appetite for a trade war with a former ally at a time when the political focus is on Russia and NATO enlargement.
Frost has become one of the most vocal critics of the Brexit deal since resigning in December. In his column, he defended the government’s decision to continue with what Boris Johnson called his “ready-to-bake” deal, arguing that the United Kingdom had no choice but to sign the protocol, as it was the only way to get out. of the UK by the EU.
“It simply came to our notice then. “If we weren’t, I think we would be in the EU now,” he said.
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Earlier this week, Frost told US President Joe Biden, who has spent much of his career supporting peace in Northern Ireland, to leave the UK business.
“I get a little disappointed when a third party, although very important in this context, tells us how to manage these problems,” he told a think tank in the United States. “Our country is facing terrorism, it is facing trouble. I’m old enough to remember that I had to check under my car every morning as a diplomat before I went to work. Most people were severely affected in one way or another. “
His remarks came when a delegation of influential representatives of the US Congress, including the head of the Roads and Funds Committee Richard Neal, planned to fly to London amid growing concerns in the White House about the spiraling tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
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