THE European Commission (EC) has urged the UK to “engage” over the Northern Ireland Protocol as the Welsh first minister hit out at Westminster plans to override the Brexit agreement.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is making a statement to MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday over plans to bring forward legislation that would allow the UK Government to ignore parts of the protocol, which ensures Northern Ireland can remain in the EU single market and prevent a land border with Ireland.
No draft bill is being tabled yet, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the plan is “insurance” as negotiations between London and Brussels continue.
It comes after Johnson had a "fairly tough" meeting in Northern Ireland on Monday at a meeting with politicians from the main five Stormont parties.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has said there is no intention for the legislation to be introduced this week.
But the plans have caused outrage amongst critics, such as Welsh FM Mark Drakeford. The EU has also consistently called for the UK to engage in dialogue over the plans.
EC spokesman Daniel Ferrie told a press briefing in Brussels: “I think our message is loud and clear: engaging with us on the basis of the proposals we put forward last October, engaging with us on those flexibilities, is a much better course than engaging unilaterally.”
Asked if he could expand on commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic last week suggesting he would be willing to look at changing EU legislation if “Britain was constructive about implementation of the protocol”, Ferrie said: “In general, when we came forward with the flexibilities last October we said this was not a ‘take it or leave it’ type package.
“The vice-president said himself in his statement on Thursday that we made clear there is still potential to be explored in our proposals.
“That’s all I would want to say about that, and of course you know that the Foreign Secretary is scheduled to speak later on and we can react accordingly after that.”
Meanwhile, Drakeford has penned a letter to the Prime Minister. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the head of Northern Ireland's civil service were copied in.
Drakeford noted reports that the UK is “preparing legislation to disapply unilaterally parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol”.
He continued: “Acting in this way would, I believe, risk material damage to the British economy and, given that the Protocol is part of a binding international agreement which you negotiated and signed, undermine Britain’s reputation internationally.
“Furthermore, since any action along these lines would affect all parts of the UK there is a clear case for a discussion of all UK governments to consider this matter.”
Drakeford set out the Welsh position that the Good Friday Agreement must be “the first priority” and that the “complex and sensitive” issues can only be resolved through dialogue.
He added: “In relation to Wales specifically, the Welsh Government has a direct interest in anything which affects the way in which goods flow between Great Britain and the island of Ireland, given the strategic importance of our west-facing ports, particularly Holyhead, and on matters which might affect Welsh businesses more widely.”
I've written to @borisjohnson following media reports that the UK Gov wants to rip up parts of the NI Protocol they negotiated, agreed and signed. This decision would have very serious consequences for the UK as a whole and must not be taken unilaterally. Here's the letter 👇 pic.twitter.com/R2O4p7EvID
— Mark Drakeford (@PrifWeinidog) May 17, 2022
Drakeford urged the PM not to take any unilateral action and continue negotiations with the EU, and called for a discussion and meeting of the devolved nations on UK-EU relations.
Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Secretary said he wanted to see light-check “green lanes” established for goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain that were not destined to travel into the European Union’s single market.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Lewis said: “There are too many companies, including major supermarkets, at the moment who have no stores in the Republic of Ireland, who are moving their products from their depots in Great Britain into Northern Ireland for sale and consumption in Northern Ireland, but going through checks as if they were going into the EU.
“That just doesn’t work and there are products that can’t travel that way.”
He added: “What sometimes gets missed in this is that what the EU is proposing now is that some of the checks we’ve had grace periods for – we are at a standstill at the moment where we are not fully applying some of the checks the EU wants – they actually want to bring those in, so they want to make matters materially worse for the people of Northern Ireland, and that’s just not viable.”
