Boris Johnson has been warned by his Irish counterpart that ditching the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland would be a “historic low point”, citing the outbreak of war in Ukraine as a reason why international law must be respected.
With Downing Street expected to table controversial draft legislation overriding key parts of the withdrawal agreement next week, the taoiseach, Micheál Martin, said such a move would be “deeply damaging”.
Martin suggested in an address on Wednesday morning to the European parliament that in ignoring its obligations under international law the British government would make the world less safe, and said Johnson must not “treat lightly” the hard-won peace on the island of Ireland.
“It would mark a historic low point, signalling a disregard for essential principles of laws, which are the foundation of international relations,” Martin said of the UK prime minister’s plans. “And it would quite literally be to the benefit of absolutely no one. Without a spirit of partnership there would have been no peace process in Northern Ireland.
“Without trust, without engagement, without a willingness to see things from the point of view of others, there would have been no Good Friday agreement, nor quarter of a century of peace in Northern Ireland in which young people have been able to grow and to flourish as themselves. All of us in positions of leadership owe it to them not to treat lightly what was so hard-won.
“As we look across our continent, as we see what is at stake when the rule of international law is threatened – it falls to all of us to work together and to stand by what we have agreed.”
Martin added: “I just simply do not detect a sustained political will on behalf of the UK government to settle this, to resolve this, because it without question can be resolved.”
Despite the misgivings of many of his MPs, the prime minister is expected to push forward next week with draft legislation that would exempt food and goods entering Northern Ireland from the EU checks the government agreed to in the Brexit deal. The move would be welcomed by many Brexiter members of Johnson’s party, after a difficult week when his premiership has been badly weakened by a split result in a confidence vote.
Responding to the taoiseach’s comments, the Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns said the UK government was “recalibrating, not tearing up” the protocol’s implementation.
“We recognise the attractiveness of the protocol and the place that it leaves Northern Ireland in,” he told RTÉ. “But the reality is that we have now got ridiculously excessive checks on goods that are moving within the United Kingdom’s internal market that will never go near the Irish republic, that are absolutely no threat whatsoever to the integrity of the single market.”
However, the proposed legislation could prove to be the first of many flashpoints with the 148 rebel MPs who made up the 41% of Tory MPs who want him to resign.
On Monday, the Conservative MP Jesse Norman, a former Treasury minister, said in a letter explaining his reasons for voting against Johnson that breaching the Northern Ireland protocol would be “economically very damaging, politically foolhardy, and almost certainly illegal”.
The government, echoing the complaints of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), which is refusing to back power-sharing institutions over the protocol, has said the current arrangements are undermining the Good Friday agreement by erecting barriers to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The European Commission has sought to placate those concerns with a series of proposals that would reduce the level of paperwork facing traders, but after an initially warm response, British ministers have insisted that a more thoroughgoing renegotiation is necessary.
Martin told MEPs: “It is perfectly reasonable to look for ways to improve the operation of the protocol. But unfortunately, what we have seen are bad faith efforts to undermine a treaty freely entered into instead of trying to create a constructive atmosphere for all to engage. We have actually seen efforts to block agreements or introduce new problems …
“I have said many times that there are solutions to practical problems under the protocol if there is a political will to find them. But that requires partnership. It requires the United Kingdom government to engage with good faith, seriousness and commitment.”
Once the draft legislation is tabled, it will take many months to go through parliament, during which the UK and the commission negotiating teams are expected to carry on with their talks.
The Northern Ireland minister Jonathan Caine urged Tory rebels to back the legislation, which he said would be published very soon. “It would be very foolish for people to try and frustrate, delay and hold this up because I think that would make the situation in NI worse than it is now,” he told the BBC.
