Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has been urged to step down from the edge of the Northern Ireland Protocol amid warnings that a trade war with the EU will put peace at risk and deepen the cost of living crisis by boosting inflation.
As Ms Trus prepared for critical talks with European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič on Thursday, the White House warned both sides to continue speaking.
And as a result of the increased attention paid to the crisis by President Joe Biden, the United States is on the verge of appointing an envoy to Northern Ireland.
Boris Johnson on Wednesday fueled expectations that the government would introduce legislation to repeal the protocol next week, saying the 2019 deal – which he negotiated as part of his Brexit deal – was failing and “we have to resolve it”.
Briefings that London was preparing to overturn the carefully negotiated agreement “failed miserably” in European capitals, said Irish Foreign Minister Simon Cowney, who warned that unilateral action would provoke “countermeasures” from Brussels, including legal action.
Sources in Whitehall stressed that if a law is passed, it will take a long time to pass through parliament, not least because of what is expected to be fierce opposition in the House of Lords, pushing the ball into the EU field.
But Britain’s prospect of lifting the curtain on talks with Brussels has raised concerns among Tory lawmakers, with Northern Ireland Municipal Affairs Committee Chairman Simon Hoare condemning the “rattling of the sword” by Foreign Secretary and Defense Committee Chairman Tobias Eloud. that rejecting the protocol would be “bad for the Irish peace, bad for British influence and bad for jobs and living standards”.
Mr Elwood told The Independent: “The abandonment of the protocol is self-destructive. This plays into Sinn Fein’s story that a united, peaceful Ireland is better for Northern Ireland. This will provoke a trade war with the EU at a time when the UK is doing so well in leading the European response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“And that will mean less movement of goods and higher inflation. The EU will respond by imposing tariffs on UK exports, which will further reduce trade with continental Europe.
Ms Truss is about to tell Mr Shefcovic that the compromise proposals presented by the EU will “take us back” and fail to resolve post-Brexit disruptions in trade between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain.
But her discussed plan to circumvent the deal and unilaterally ease controls on goods crossing the Irish Sea was declared “crazy, to be honest” by the head of one of the most influential business groups in Northern Ireland.
Stephen Kelly, chief executive of Manufacturing NI, said trade with the republic had jumped 60 percent since Brexit, and investment had risen sharply thanks to a protocol that gives firms in Northern Ireland unique access to the EU’s non-EU single market. benefit from continental partners.
“If the purpose of these plans is to facilitate trade between Britain and Northern Ireland, it will certainly fail,” Kelly told The Independent. “All it will do is create huge economic damage, deep instability for business and additional uncertainty. Businesses do not need a potential trade war with the EU.
In the United States, a White House spokesman left no doubt that Mr. Biden disapproved of any move to overturn the protocol agreements.
Acknowledging that the implementation of the deal created “challenges”, the spokesman said: “The best way forward is pragmatic, which requires courage, cooperation and leadership. We call on the parties to continue to engage in a dialogue to resolve differences and bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion. “
A group of senior US congressmen also sent a strong letter to Mrs Trus, expressing “concern” over proposals that she would suspend talks with Mr Shefcovic in telephone conversations on Thursday and warning that this “would be in direct violation of international law”. right and would threaten the Good Friday Agreement. “
In a joint letter, Congressman Bill Keating, chairman of the European Subcommittee on Europe, and Brendan Boyle, co-chair of the EU House of Representatives, said a majority of those elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly last week wanted to work under the protocol.
Congressmen said that “the worst outcome of Brexit will be the one that will lead to violence and cataclysms in Northern Ireland.”
They called on Mrs Truss and the British government to “maintain the end of the deal and act in good faith, within the parameters of international law, to maintain peace and stability in Northern Ireland”.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told a congressional committee last week that Biden “will soon move on to appointing an envoy” to help Washington play its role as a “bona fide arbiter” in Northern Ireland, they said.
Capitol Hill talks suggest Northern Ireland Minister Connor Burns has insisted on London’s argument that the stalemate over the Protocol itself threatens Good Friday Agreement by preventing the restoration of executive power to share power. in Stormont.
Failure to form an executive branch may require re-elections within 24 weeks, with little prospect of a change in the outcome.
Mr Burns, who was appointed special envoy to the US prime minister under the protocol, said the UK government had a “moral obligation” to break the deadlock.
“We still want a negotiated solution,” he said. “But if your negotiating partners are currently saying that there is nothing to talk about, then we have a moral obligation to take action to protect our citizens in Northern Ireland.
But Irish Prime Minister Michel Martin insisted there was still “a way to resolve this issue in a pragmatic way” through negotiations.
“Significant” concessions from Brussels on medicines and veterinary checks have not been reciprocal from London, he said, adding: “There must now be political will on all sides to resolve this issue. There can be no unilateral action – it will not help. “
Stephen Farry, deputy leader of the non-sectarian Alliance, which won a record 17 seats in last week’s election, said any unilateral action to remove the protocol would be “extremely irresponsible on the part of the UK government”.
“They would lead to instability in Northern Ireland, not solve things,” he said. “They would leave the UK government in breach of its international obligations and send a terrible message to the international community.
Flint Global’s trade expert Sam Lowe said a unilateral proposal to break the protocol would not resolve the issue quickly.
Legislation to repeal the deal will not take effect until later this year, creating uncertainty and stifling investment in Northern Ireland.
“In order to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the protocol, businesses need to know that the arrangements will last a long time,” Mr Lowe told The Independent.
“You just don’t have that right now, and the latest intervention adds more uncertainty. This will continue and will continue. “
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