{"id":26291,"date":"2022-05-21T09:28:36","date_gmt":"2022-05-21T13:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26291"},"modified":"2022-05-21T09:28:40","modified_gmt":"2022-05-21T13:28:40","slug":"truss-to-meet-with-richard-neal-as-protocol-row-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26291","title":{"rendered":"Truss To Meet With Richard Neal As Protocol Row Escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (PA)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The UK Foreign Secretary is set to meet with a top US Democrat on Saturday as tensions mount over the UK\u2019s controversial plans to overwrite parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz Truss and International and the UK’s Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan are expected to hold meetings with a bipartisan congressional delegation led by Richard Neal, who heads up the powerful ways and means committee in the US House of Representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It follows a warning from US House speaker Nancy Pelosi that Congress will not support a free trade agreement with the UK if the Government persists with \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d plans to \u201cunilaterally discard\u201d the protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a strongly-worded intervention, Ms Pelosi urged the UK and the EU to continue negotiations on the post-Brexit trade arrangements to uphold peace in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The congresswoman said in a statement: \u201cThe Good Friday Accords are the bedrock of peace in Northern Ireland and a beacon of hope for the entire world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnsuring there remains no physical border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland is absolutely necessary for upholding this landmark agreement, which has transformed Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is deeply concerning that the United Kingdom now seeks to unilaterally discard the Northern Ireland Protocol, which preserves the important progress and stability forged by the Accords.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest controversy has been sparked by Ms Truss\u2019s announcement on Tuesday that the UK intends to legislate to override parts of the Brexit withdrawal treaty it struck with the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK Foreign Secretary told the Commons the move was needed to reduce \u201cunnecessary bureaucracy\u201d and to protect the Good Friday Agreement, arguing that the EU\u2019s proposals \u201cwould go backward from the situation we have today\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ongoing row over the treaty has created an impasse in efforts to form a devolved government administration in Belfast, with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refusing to join an executive unless its concerns over the situation are addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Pelosi\u2019s intervention was met with scorn from former Brexit minister Lord Frost, who called the statement \u201cignorant\u201d of the \u201cthe realities in Northern Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no plan to put in place a physical border,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNobody has ever suggested that, so I don\u2019t know why she is suggesting that in her statement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson also described Ms Pelosi\u2019s contribution as \u201centirely unhelpful\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Pelosi is not the only senior figure in Washington to express concern about relations between the UK and the EU in recent days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derek Chollet

koupit-pilulky.com<\/a><\/p> , a senior adviser to the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said on Friday that a \u201cbig fight\u201d between the UK and the EU was the \u201clast thing\u201d the US wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Neal told The Guardian part of his job is to convince the UK not to breach the Brexit treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey haven\u2019t breached it yet. They\u2019re talking about breaching it, so part of my job is to convince them not to breach it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy purpose is manifold but we really want to reaffirm America\u2019s unwavering commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and to remind everybody that on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, it has worked splendidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to remind everybody in the UK, in Northern Ireland that it should not be treated as a cavalier achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is also expected to meet with the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miche\u00e1l Martin said on Friday there was \u201cno substitute\u201d for substantive negotiations between the UK Government and EU to resolve difficulties with protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Taoiseach also said an Assembly and Executive should be formed at Stormont while those negotiations continued, and accused the UK of \u201cmoving the goalposts\u201d over its approach to the protocol.<\/p>\n

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