LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – On Monday, MPs will vote on new legislation that will allow ministers to revoke certain provisions of the UK-EU post-Brexit agreement.
To facilitate the transit of some commodities from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the government intends to alter the NI Protocol.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss claimed the protocol was threatening Northern Ireland’s peace before the vote.
However, the EU is opposed to the action and claims it violates international law.
A hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is avoided by the protocol, which is a component of the 2019 Brexit agreement.
However, it necessitates inspections of some imports into Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK, establishing an Irish Sea trade border.
The EU fiercely opposed the government’s proposals, which were disclosed earlier in June, and took legal action against the UK government over the law.
Maros Sefcovic, vice-president of the European Commission, has also suggested that additional actions, including a trade war between the EU and the UK, could be taken if the bill is passed.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which came in second in the May assembly election but won the most seats, is refusing to re-enter a power-sharing executive unless its concerns about the protocol are addressed.
The protocol threatens the peace and stability secured by the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland , said Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Sunday night.
The protocol, according to Sinn Féin, Alliance, and SDLP, the three Northern Ireland parties that together secured the majority of seats in the May election, is required to lessen the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland.
Before the vote, Ms. Truss issued a statement saying that that legislation would fix the problems the protocol had created, ensuring that goods could travel freely within the UK whilst avoiding a hard border and protecting the EU single market.
A negotiated solution had been and would always be their preference, but the EU continued to rule out amending the protocol itself – despite the fact that it was obviously leading to major issues in Northern Ireland – which meant they were compelled to act, the statement read.
Although the EU has stated it is unwilling to revise the protocol, it has offered to cooperate on certain implementation-related issues.
Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister), claimed earlier this week that the UK government’s proposals for Northern Ireland would amount to “economic vandalism.”
