Northern Ireland Protocol: EU threatens legal action as Irish premier labels UK Government plans to scrap parts of Brexit deal 'new low'

The UK Government is facing legal action from the European Union after unveiling plans to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland protocol.

Ministers announced the plans on Tuesday, sparking a furious response from across the Irish political spectrum.

It came despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisting changing the agreement was “no big deal”.

The legislation will give ministers powers to override elements of the protocol, which was jointly agreed by the UK and EU as part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement to keep the Irish land border free-flowing.

Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O'Neill speaks to the media in the Great Hall at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast as the Bill to amend the Northern Ireland Protocol is introduced in Parliament. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

The arrangements instead require regulatory checks and customs declarations on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic has warned ministers the EU will now look at restarting “infringement proceedings” against the UK.

Speaking at the commission headquarters in Brussels on Monday evening, Mr Sefcovic said the unilateral action by the UK could put the access of Northern Ireland businesses to the EU single market at risk.

He said: “It is with significant concern that we take note of today’s decision by the UK Government to table legislation disapplying core elements of the protocol. Unilateral action is damaging to mutual trust.

“In particular, the protocol provides business operators in Northern Ireland with access to the EU single market for goods. The UK Government’s approach puts this access – and related opportunities – at risk.

“Our aim will always be to secure the implementation of the protocol. Our reaction to unilateral action by the UK will reflect that aim and will be proportionate.”

Speaking in County Cork on Monday, Irish premier Micheal Martin criticised Mr Johnson by pointing out he negotiated the initial terms.

Mr Martin said: “It’s very regrettable for a country like the UK to renege on an international treaty.

“I think it represents a new low point, because the natural expectation of democratic countries like ourselves, the UK and all across Europe, is that we honour international agreements that we enter into.

“This agreement was ratified by British Parliament, it was approved by the British Prime Minister.

“I’ve had this discussion with him and, in our view, the only way to resolve issues around the operation of the protocol is to have substantive negotiations between the UK and the EU.

“We do not accept the presentation by the British Government and certain ministers to the effect that the EU is inflexible.

“That is most definitely not the case and the EU has been very pro-active in the last year in endeavouring to seek solutions to issues around the operation of the protocol.”

The UK Government is promising to remove "unnecessary" paperwork on goods checks and that businesses in Northern Ireland will get the same tax breaks as those elsewhere in the UK.

The Bill, to be debated and voted on by Parliament, will also ensure any trade disputes are resolved by "independent arbitration" and not by the European Court of Justice.

Despite briefings that Liz Truss would unveil the changes in the Commons, the foreign secretary failed to appear, with the details instead posted online.

Ms Truss said: “This Bill will uphold the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and support political stability in Northern Ireland. It will end the untenable situation where people in Northern Ireland are treated differently to the rest of the United Kingdom, protect the supremacy of our courts and our territorial integrity.

“This is a reasonable, practical solution to the problems facing Northern Ireland. It will safeguard the EU single market and ensure there is no hard border on the island of Ireland.

"We are ready to deliver this through talks with the EU. But we can only make progress through negotiations if the EU are willing to change the protocol itself – at the moment they aren’t.

"In the meantime the serious situation in Northern Ireland means we cannot afford to allow the situation to drift.”

Before details were even announced, a majority of MLAs in the Stormont Assembly signed a joint letter to Mr Johnson stating their opposition to the proposed legislation.

The letter has been signed by 52 of the 90 MLAs. They represent Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Alliance Party.

The letter to Mr Johnson states the signatories “reject in the strongest possible terms your Government’s reckless new protocol legislation, which flies in the face of the expressed wishes of not just most businesses, but most people in Northern Ireland”.

It continues that “whilst not ideal, the protocol currently represents the only available”.

Ireland’s foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney said the plan would “ratchet up” tension and breach the UK’s international commitments.

He said: “I, like everybody else, have seen the concern that has been expressed within the Conservative Party at this course of action.

“I think it does an awful lot of damage to Britain’s international reputation.

“Of course, the precedent that is being set here to disapply international law, and let’s not forget international law that the British Government was central to actually writing and agreeing and ratifying, I think is something that is abhorrent to many in the Conservative Party.

“My language had been blunt and I think it needs to be.

“For most of my working life as minister for foreign affairs, my job is to be a diplomat, but there are times when I think I need to call things out for what they are.”

Scottish constitution secretary Angus Robertson claimed the UK Government was “once again treating a constituent nation of the UK as a political football”.

Writing in The Scotsman, Mr Robertson said: “To them, the primary consideration is not the citizens of Northern Ireland and the serious political and personal issues to navigate.

"The UK Government’s actions are a desperate and unthinking attempt to navigate crises of its own making in pursuit of self-preservation.

"The reality is Boris Johnson’s Government is stumbling from catastrophe to scandal and from failed policy outcomes to dangerous policy proposals.

"The effects on the people in every nation of the UK are real, and now, decades-long peace in Northern Ireland is at real risk.”

Sinn Fein's Stormont leader Michelle O’Neill called the plans "reckless and disgraceful".

She said: “Boris Johnson’s action is illegal, he is in clear breach of international law, regardless of the detail.

“He himself signed up to an agreement, he signed on the dotted line and he’s now legislating to breach that international agreement.”

However, speaking on Monday Mr Johnson claimed the changes were “no big deal”.

Speaking to broadcasters on a farm in Cornwall, the Prime Minister said: “First of all, the protocol isn’t actually even yet being implemented. And it’s because it’s all been put into cold storage while we try and manage it, were it to be implemented, it would do even more damage diverting trade and that is upsetting the balance of the Belfast Good Friday agreement.

“We’ve got a problem at the moment, which is in Northern Ireland, the Stormont assembly, the government of Northern Ireland, can’t meet because of the effects of the protocol. What it does is it creates unnecessary barriers on trade east-west.

“What we can do is fix that. It’s not a big deal. We can fix it in such a way as to remove those bureaucratic barriers, but without putting up barriers on trade moving north-south in the island of Ireland as well.”

Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns insisted the Northern Ireland Protocol legislation would be legal.

Speaking from Washington DC where he is holding talks on the protocol, he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “The idea that we’re doing this for the DUP, let me say to you as an openly gay man born in Belfast to a Catholic, nationalist family, the idea that I would be here in the United States explaining what we’re doing because it’s for the DUP, to me, would be gut-churning.

“We’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do for the United Kingdom.

“The idea that I would be here on behalf of the Prime Minister in the US explaining what we’re doing if I thought for one second this was illegal, that this was a breach of international law, I would not be sat here in Washington.”