A minister says the UK is right to seek to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol because it was not meant to “last forever” – despite it being an international treaty.
Kwasi Kwarteng also claimed that “nobody had any idea” of the chaos from creating a trade border in the Irish Sea, despite it being widely predicted when the deal was signed in 2019.
Asked if the UK should “honour” the agreement, the business secretary replied: “The Northern Ireland Protocol isn’t written in stone. It’s not something that was going to last forevermore.”
Mr Kwarteng agreed “a deal is a deal”, but added: “Nobody thought the Northern Ireland Protocol was going to define the role of Northern Ireland within the UK forevermore, it was something that was flexible.”
The comments, to Sky News, are certain to infuriate the EU, which threw out the UK’s request to dramatically rework the agreement within three hours of the demand being made on Wednesday.
They will also fuel the suspicion, widespread in EU capitals, that Boris Johnson never had any intention of abiding by the deal he struck in 2019, in order to end the Brexit stalemate.
The Protocol is protected by international law and is policed by EU institutions and courts, which have the power to punish the UK for failing to implement it.
The EU is also warning of a trade war if London continues to stall on the promises it made – and that it could suspend other parts of the Christmas trade deal that followed.
A new UK “command paper” demands the abandoning full Irish Sea trade checks – due to start in October, when “grace periods” expire – and for Brussels to shelve legal action for non-implementation of current rules.
The UK also wants the Protocol to “no longer be policed by EU institutions and courts of justice” – the bedrock for ensuring London can be punished for non-compliance, in Eu eyes.
And a so-called “honesty box” approach should allow goods “meeting both UK and EU standards to circulate” in Northern Ireland, Brexit minister David Frost argued.
Checks would only be carried out on goods destined for the Republic of Ireland – a dual-standards regime long rejected by the EU, for fear it will undermine its single market.
But, in a swift response, the EU reiterated that the Protocol was “the joint solution” reached to solve the problems provoked by “the type of Brexit chosen by the British government”.
Pointing to the overarching need to while protect “the integrity” of the single market, a statement added: ”In order for these objectives to be achieved, the Protocol must be implemented.”
But a defiant Mr Kwarteng argued: “When people say they’re not going to look at the Protocol again, I say ‘well, let’s just see’.”
