{"id":26205,"date":"2022-05-12T14:12:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T18:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26205"},"modified":"2022-05-13T09:16:30","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T13:16:30","slug":"british-pm-hints-at-unilaterally-suspending-ni-protocol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26205","title":{"rendered":"British PM Hints At Unilaterally Suspending NI Protocol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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British prime minister Boris Johnson said the DUP would not join a power-sharing agreement until changes have been made to the Brexit treaty (PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Northern Ireland Protocol has become a \u201creal problem\u201d and must be \u201cfixed\u201d to ensure the country can agree a new power-sharing administration, British prime minister Boris Johnson has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU and UK have come to fresh blows over the Brexit treaty after reports emerged that the British foreign secretary is drawing up emergency legislation to suspend elements of the protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Johnson, who negotiated the protocol when taking the UK out of the EU, would not be drawn on whether the wording of the divorce pact needed to be changed when questioned on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that without changes to the treaty, which is designed to prevent a hard border in Ireland, a new executive in the North could not be formed as per the rules set out in the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinn F\u00e9in made history during last week\u2019s Stormont elections when it became the largest party in the Assembly for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has ruled out entering into a new power-sharing administration without significant changes to the protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impasse has led to concerns in the British government that the protocol could spark sectarian violence in the North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Johnson told broadcasters that the \u201cinstitutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement aren\u2019t functioning\u201d and that political governance in the North has \u201ccollapsed\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in Stoke-on-Trent

Buy Lamisil Without Prescription<\/a><\/div> , he said: \u201cThe people of Northern Ireland need leadership, they need a regional, a provincial government\u2026 they haven\u2019t got that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a real, real problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the reason they don\u2019t have that is because there\u2019s one community in Northern Ireland that won\u2019t accept the way the protocol works at present \u2013 we\u2019ve got to fix that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest row came as months of tensions over the working of the protocol \u2013 which forms part of the UK\u2019s Withdrawal Agreement with the EU \u2013 threatened to boil over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under its terms, the UK is required to impose checks on some goods crossing from Britain to Northern Ireland in order to maintain an open border with the Republic while protecting the EU single market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the British government has complained that the way it is being implemented is imposing a burden on businesses in North and creating trade barriers within the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British ministers have repeatedly warned that they could unilaterally suspend the arrangements unless the EU agrees to major changes to reduce the impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Brussels has raised the possibility of suspending the entire Brexit deal if the threat is carried out, in a move that could spark an all-out trade war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British foreign secretary Liz Truss used a phone call with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic on Thursday to warn that if the EU does not show \u201cflexibility\u201d over the trading arrangements, then the UK would have \u201cno choice but to act\u201d alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British cabinet office minister Michael Ellis later drove that message home during a visit to Brussels, giving a speech in which he pressed for \u201csignificant changes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the EU\u2019s approach in refusing to change the negotiation mandate had been \u201chugely disappointing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will continue to talk with the EU but we won\u2019t let that stand in the way of protecting peace and political stability in Northern Ireland,\u201d Mr Ellis told a press conference at the European Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs both the prime minister and foreign secretary have made clear, we will take action to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement if solutions cannot be found.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, speaking to reporters in Co Antrim, said British government figures had told him to expect \u201cmovement\u201d on the protocol \u201cfairly soon\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Times<\/em>, the UK’s attorney general Suella Braverman has issued legal advice that the UK could act because the EU\u2019s implementation of the agreement was \u201cdisproportionate and unreasonable\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British ministers have said they could trigger Article 16 of the protocol \u2013 the power allowing either side to suspend some of the arrangements \u2013 while reports have suggested Ms Truss is readying a domestic law designed to suspend parts of the terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Sefcovic warned his counterparts in London that the EU could not \u201crenegotiate\u201d a form of Brexit that the UK freely signed up to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in Brussels, Mr Sefcovic said: \u201cThe EU cannot solve all the problems created by Brexit and the type of Brexit that the UK chose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is the reason why the EU\u2019s position has been consistent: we will not renegotiate the protocol, and the EU is united in this position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnilateral action, effectively disapplying the protocol, is not a solution for the way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the commission \u201cstands ready\u201d to carry on working for a joint solution to the frictions being caused by the accord, and urged the UK \u201cto do the same\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in the D\u00e1il, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said the UK pushing to use domestic legislation to overwrite the protocol was \u201cdeeply unhelpful\u201d and had \u201cratcheted up tension\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unilateral action by the UK also risks provoking a row with the US, where US president Joe Biden has made clear his concern over any measure that could undermine the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n

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