United Kingdom

EU protocol position hardened by UK threat of unilateral action

The EU’s position on the Northern Ireland Protocol dispute has “hardened” in the face of the UK’s promise to unilaterally cancel part of the agreement, the Irish government has warned.

Foreign Secretary Simon Cowney called on Boris Johnson to stop “anger” in Anglo-Irish relations and withdraw from his plan to introduce a bill to repeal parts of the deal after Brexit.

“I was in Finland to Sweden, from Estonia to Latvia and I talked to many other EU foreign ministers, in many respects the EU’s position has hardened in the last few weeks,” Mr Cowney said on Thursday.