Liz Trass risks a trade war with the EU and accusations of breaking the law as she publishes legislation that will allow Britain’s exports to Northern Ireland to follow UK or EU standards and inspections.
Publishing the bill on the Northern Ireland Protocol, Truss said it would solve the problems with the post-Brexit protocol by easing checks on companies selling goods from the UK destined for Northern Ireland, not the EU. This will also remove the European Court of Justice as an arbitrator in commercial disputes and move to an independent mechanism.
The Government published a summary of the legal basis for its actions, referring to a principle called the “doctrine of necessity”, on the grounds that the protocol posed a “danger” in Northern Ireland.
However, the EU, legal experts and even some Conservative MEPs have said the move violates international law, as it gives ministers the power not to apply parts of the protocol unilaterally without the consent of Brussels.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU Commissioner for Brexit, objected to the “harmful” move and threatened to sue the ministers.
He said: “As a first step, the commission will consider continuing the infringement procedure launched against the UK government in March 2021. We postponed this action in September 2021 in a spirit of constructive cooperation to create space for joint solutions. . The United Kingdom, as a unilateral action, is directly against the spirit. ”
One of the biggest changes will be the introduction of a choice for British companies exporting to Northern Ireland between compliance with EU or UK regulatory standards, which are expected to diverge. It will also allow the creation of a green ribbon allowing for fewer customs controls on goods destined for Northern Ireland and a red ribbon with existing controls on goods destined for EU countries.
Further measures include aligning Northern Ireland’s tax breaks and spending policies with the rest of the UK and changing the supervision of commercial disputes so that they are decided by independent arbitration and not by the European Court of Justice.
The legislature will face strong opposition in the House of Commons and in the Lords, with doubts about whether Boris Johnson has support for its adoption. The bill has some critics from the Eurosceptic right, including the Northern Ireland DUP, as well as some from the one-centrist wing of the Tories.
Government sources said the vote on the bill would take place before parliament split for the summer holidays, but ministers would like to see some progress towards a return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland, which the DUP has blocked.
A majority of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly – from Sinn Féin, SDLP, Alliance parties – wrote to Johnson on Monday that they could not support the move, warning that it “flies in the face of the wishes of not only most businesses but most people in Northern Ireland. “
The assembly is yet to vote on whether to approve the operation of the protocol in 2024, four years after its entry into force.
As the opposition grows, there are some doubts among lawmakers that the legislation will get somewhere. The government insists it still prefers to find a solution through negotiations to resolve issues with the protocol. But Ireland said Monday that Trus had not been involved in talks with the protocol in a meaningful way since February.
A telephone conversation Monday morning between Truss and Simon Cowney, Dublin’s foreign minister, lasted just 12 minutes. A spokesman for the Irish Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: these islands and between the United Kingdom and the EU.
Shadow’s foreign minister, David Lamy, said it was “a desperate attempt by Boris Johnson to divert attention from the drama of his leadership crisis” and called on the government to publish its full legal advice.
“This risks creating new trade barriers in the cost of living crisis and will only bring more uncertainty to the people of Northern Ireland who are trying to make the protocol work,” he said. “Britain must be a country that keeps its word. By tearing up the protocol it negotiated just a few years ago, the government will damage Britain’s reputation and make finding a lasting solution more difficult.
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