LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that a plan to break parts of the post-Brexit trade deal he signed with the European Union could become law later this year.
Lawmakers on Monday began debating legislation rewriting trade rules for Northern Ireland, the first step in what could be a difficult journey through Parliament.
If passed by lawmakers, the legislation would remove controls on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, thus ruling out parts of a trade treaty that Johnson signed before Britain left the EU in 2020.
Johnson said he thought the plan could be approved “fairly quickly” if Parliament cooperates. Asked if measures could be in place this year, he said: “Yes, I think we could do it very quickly, if Parliament wants to.”
The British government says the rules, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, are burdening businesses and undermining peace in Northern Ireland. He argues that the unilateral movement is justified under international law because of the “genuinely exceptional situation.”
Johnson’s opponents, however, say the move is illegal.
“Many of us are extremely concerned that the bill blatantly violates a solemn international treaty, ruins our international reputation, threatens a trade war at a time when our economy is flat and puts us at odds with our ally more important, ”the Conservative said. Andrew Mitchell said Monday in Parliament.
Foreign Minister Liz Truss responded that the government’s plans are the only solution to the trade problems in Northern Ireland because the EU has refused to reopen negotiations.
The plans have caused concern among some of Johnson’s fellow Conservatives, already worried about his judgment and popularity after a series of ethical scandals and two special election defeats.
But Johnson said Monday that questions about his leadership were no longer relevant.
“We resolved it a couple of weeks ago,” he told reporters in Germany, referring to his survival in a censorship vote three weeks ago.
The EU has threatened retaliation against the UK if it goes ahead with its plan to rewrite the rules of the post-Brexit deal, raising the specter of a trade war between the two main economic partners.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he was “very disappointed” that the UK government was still pursuing its “illegal” approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“This is not the way to find sustainable solutions to the genuine concerns of people and businesses in Northern Ireland and it only increases uncertainty,” he said.
The bloc’s ambassador to the UK, Joao Vale de Almeida, said the UK plan was “illegal because it is a violation of international law, a violation of EU law, UK law and the international law “.
“It’s a treaty that we signed, ratified and even went through a general election in this country,” he told Times Radio.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a border with an EU country, Ireland. When Britain left the European Union and its borderless free trade area, the two sides agreed to keep the Irish land border free of customs and other controls because an open border is a key pillar of the peace process that ended to decades of violence in the north. Ireland.
Instead, to protect the EU’s single market, there are controls on some goods, such as meat and eggs, which enter Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.
The Conservative Johnson government claims that over-implementation of the EU means the rules are not working as expected and are causing a political crisis in Northern Ireland.
“You have a tradition, a community, that feels like things don’t really work out in a way that they like or understand: you have unnecessary barriers to trade between Britain and Northern Ireland,” Johnson said.
“All we are saying is that you can get rid of them without endangering the EU single market in any way,” he said.
British unionists say the checks are eroding ties between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, seen by some unionists as a threat to their British identity. Northern Ireland’s main unionist party is blocking the formation of a new power-sharing government in Belfast, saying it will not participate in it until Brexit trade rules are removed.
“I want to see the re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Executive, and the protocol gets in the way,” Lewis told Sky News. “We have to solve it. That is what this law will do.
“Ultimately, we want to do it in agreement with the EU,” he added. “But to do that, they have to show some flexibility and, in fact, come to negotiate in a flexible way.”
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Frank Griffiths contributed to this report.
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