The Times - UK (2022-05-17)

6 2GM Tuesday May 17 2022 | the times

News

Britain will tell the EU today to rip up its
negotiating mandate on the Northern
Ireland protocol or face unilateral
action to change the rules.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, will
say she has drawn up legislation to
override parts of the post-Brexit deal
and it will be introduced before the
summer unless Brussels gives ground.
Boris Johnson described the law
yesterday as “insurance” against the
failure of talks, but a senior Tory MP
warned him that it was not the time to
risk a trade war.
Today’s statement is unlikely to
assuage Unionist concerns, with the
Democratic Unionist Party in Northern
Ireland dismissing legislation as just
“words”, and suggesting it would not
agree to resume power-sharing until
concrete changes had been made.
Sinn Fein accused Johnson of “reck-
less” threats after talks at Hillsborough
Castle in which the five major parties in
the north expressed discontent. How-
ever, British officials are convinced that
negotiations can only progress if Brus-
sels accepts that parts of the protocol
will have to be rewritten, something it
has so far ruled out.
Truss will seek to avoid bellicose
rhetoric in her Commons statement,
suggesting that Britain is acting in
sorrow not anger. “For Liz this is about
preserving peace and restoring political
stability in Northern Ireland, it isn’t
about picking a fight with the EU,” an
ally said. “A negotiated solution is still
the overwhelming preference, but the
EU will need to compromise more.”
Her bill will allow the UK to set up its
own “green lane” for goods from Britain
intended for sale in Northern Ireland,
allow firms there to choose whether to
produce goods to UK or EU standards,
put control of the border under UK
jurisdiction and allow Westminster to
make the same tax rate changes in
Northern Ireland as the rest of the UK.
Downing Street says that while there
is a “sensible landing spot” for talks, the
EU has not been willing to reword the
protocol. “We don’t want to scrap it, but
we think it can be fixed,” Johnson said.
“Not one of [the main Northern Irish
parties] likes the way it’s operating, they
all think it can be reformed and im-
proved — from Sinn Fein to SDLP,
DUP, all of them. The question is how
do you do that? We would love this to be
done in a consensual way with our
friends and partners. But to get that
done, to have the insurance, we need a
legislative solution at the same time.”
He appealed to the DUP to join the
executive, which has vetoed over the
protocol, insisting that all parties
“should be rolling their sleeves up”.
Sinn Fein, which emerged as the larg-
est party in elections on May 5, accused
Johnson of “shoring up the DUP’s bad
behaviour” by demanding changes
from the EU so that the largest Unionist
party would rejoin power-sharing.
Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein
president, said her meeting with John-
son had been “tough” and that it was
“extraordinary” that the government
would legislate to break the law.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP
leader, accused Sinn Fein of “puerile
nonsense” and said he wanted Johnson
to act to ensure a fully functioning
executive “as soon as possible”. But he
said: “The tabling of legislation is
words. What I need is action.”
Mel Stride, chairman of the Treasury
select committee, urged Johnson not to
let the situation escalate to a trade war.
“We’re already not in a great position
on trade,” he told Times Radio.
Keep to the protocol, letters, page 28

News Politics

Give in or we make new rules,

Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor
Patrick Maguire Red Box Editor
Oliver Wright Policy Editor

Border town is thriving...

now it just wants stability

W

ith all the bleak

news from Northern

Ireland over the

decades, stories of

genuine success

often get overlooked. Newry, Co

Down, a market town perched on

the border with Ireland, is one such

glowing success. From 30 per cent

unemployment in the late 1970s —

the highest in Europe — to less than

2 per cent today, the once heavily-

militarised region encompassing

Newry, south Down and south

Armagh is booming.

It’s greatest problem? Employers

cannot find people to fill hundreds

of vacancies. The second biggest?

Northern Ireland faces several

months without an assembly or

functioning executive amid a cost-

of-living crisis, a hospital waiting

list crisis and with a £130 million

infrastructure plan for Newry

somewhere in the pipeline. On

Friday a week after voters went to

the polls, new MLAs met in

Stormont, but the DUP, now second

to Sinn Fein in electoral strength,

vetoed formation of an executive

until its demands for reform of the

Northern Ireland protocol are met.

Patricia Smylie, a market stall-

holder, has seen it all before. Sinn

Fein collapsed the assembly in 2017

over a poorly-conceived “green”

heating scheme that cost the

taxpayer hundreds of millions. The

DUP collapsed it last February in

protest at the protocol.

“I don’t think people should get

paid if they don’t go to work,” said

Smylie, who sells jewellery at

Newry Variety Market. “People are

interested in getting back to

normality with waiting lists and

everything else. They want their

own government. There is money

there, it should go back in.”

A £300 million increase in the

Northern Ireland budget passed by

Stormont has been withheld since

the new fiscal year began on April 1

because there is no functioning

executive to approve its allocation.

A 10 per cent increase in health

spending has been frozen.

But London’s apparent backing of

DUP opposition to the protocol has

worried business and civic leaders.

Conor Patterson, chief executive

of Newry and Mourne Co-operative

and Enterprise Agency, said: “Our

transformation from the so-called

bandit country — the watchtowers,

the heavily-militarised economic

dead zone for decades — all of that

was predicated on multilateralism,

on trade in all directions, east-west

and north-south.

“The organic development of the

all-island economy over the last 20

years was seen to be a threat by

some people. It wasn’t a political

Ireland from the

mainland. The UK

wants these made

permanent, saying that

one of the problems in

reaching an agreement

is that Brussels insists

that they end.

How likely is a

compromise?

The EU knows there is

no way the UK can

agree to ban sausages

and the grace periods

are here to stay. They

have been taking a

hard line to secure

other concessions.

Contentious rating:

regulations in

northern ireland

What the UK wants

Under the protocol

Northern Ireland is, in

effect, within the EU

single market for

goods, which means

that it has to conform

with European

regulations and

standards, with big

implications for

certification. The UK

wants a “dual

regulatory system”,

with businesses in

Northern Ireland

having a choice, either

to conform with UK

regulations and

standards, if selling to

the UK market, or the

EU, if selling into the

bloc.

How likely is a

compromise?

UK regulations more

or less match those of

Traders in Newry say

their politicians need to

focus on solutions —

not finding problems,

Stephen O’Brien writes

Even the red lines

can be blurred if

the will is there

M

inisters

will

unveil

plans

today to

unilaterally override

parts of the Northern

Ireland Brexit in UK

law (Oliver Wright and

Bruno Waterfield

write). Boris Johnson

has insisted that this is

not the government’s

preferred option and it

would still like a

negotiated settlement

with the European

Union. So what are the

UK’s demands and

what are the prospects

for compromise?

green lanes for

goods

What the UK wants

At present all goods

crossing the Irish Sea

between Britain and

Northern Ireland are

treated as if they are

entering the EU, and

have to be checked in

the same way as if they

were crossing between

Dover and Calais.

The UK wants to

reverse this so that all

goods entering

Northern Ireland are

treated as if they were

remaining in the UK,

unless they are flagged

for onward transit.

This “green lane”

system would mean

only goods destined for

the Republic of Ireland

would be subject to full

EU checks.

The UK argues that

such a risk-based

approach could

dramatically reduce

the burden of checks at

the border. It would be

backed up by an IT

system, available to

both the EU and UK

authorities, that would

use existing

commercial data to

identify product

movements, instead of

customs declarations.

The UK would

promise to work with

the EU and Ireland to

identify smuggling.

The UK also wants this

system to cover food

being sent from Britain

to the province,

avoiding the need for

agri-food checks.

How likely is a

compromise?

The EU is not totally

opposed to this, but

says the UK side has

not given it full access,

in terms of providing

data, to the IT system

that underpins it. This

is denied by the UK,

which says that it has

given the EU full

access but that

Brussels is refusing to

use it. Negotiators see

this as low-hanging

fruit for progress.

Contentious rating:

2/

permanent

‘grace periods’

What the UK wants

The protocol is not

being implemented in

full and there are so-

called grace periods,

allowing products such

as chilled uncooked

meats, including

sausages, to enter

Northern Ireland, even

though they should be

banned under EU law.

There is also an

exemption from EU

agri-food checks on

supermarket produce

being sent to Northern