The trucks pass through security at the Port of Larne in Northern Ireland.
Photographer: Mark Marlow / Bloomberg
Photographer: Mark Marlow / Bloomberg
Boris Johnson threatened to suspend parts of the Brexit deal relating to Northern Ireland as a dispute escalated after the European Union threatened to impose border controls in a dispute over the supply of vaccines.
Responding in Parliament on Wednesday to allegations that he “betrayed” the province by agreeing to goods checks between Britain and Northern Ireland, the prime minister said he would act.
“We will do whatever we need to do, be it legislative, or even invoking Article 16 of the Protocol, to ensure that there are no barriers in the Irish Sea,” Johnson told the House of Commons.
Traders faced disruptions in the transport of goods from the rest of the UK to the province due to the new customs controls and paperwork required in the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, agreed as part of the Brexit agreement with the EU just over a month ago. Article 16 is an emergency trigger that allows either party to intervene if the application of the protocol creates “serious economic, social or environmental difficulties”.
Tensions over Northern Ireland increased significantly last week, especially since the European Commission announced it would activate Article 16 to control vaccine exports to Northern Ireland – blinding the UK and Irish governments and infuriating union political leaders.
Even if the EU admitted that its decision was wrong and retreated in a few hours, the disaster risks reopening one of the most controversial aspects of the Brexit negotiations.
‘Betrayed’
“I speak for all my constituents today, when I say that the Protocol betrayed us and made us to sense as foreigners in our country, ”Democratic unionist Ian Paisley told Johnson in the House of Commons.
Under the terms of the Brexit agreement Johnson signed, Northern Ireland – unlike the rest of the UK – remained in the EU customs union and the single market to avoid creating a visible border with the Republic of Ireland and restarting decades of sectarian conflict .
Instead, the goods face complex controls when crossing the Irish Sea. But to alleviate the pain, not all checks were introduced when the UK’s post-Brexit transition period ended on December 31. Even so, companies complained of delays and interruptions when moving goods from one part of the UK to another while port officials faced threats of violence.
Photographer: Simon Dawson / Bloomberg
In a loud-spoken letter seen by Bloomberg that condemned the EU’s action on vaccines, UK Cabinet Minister Michael Gove asked European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic to extend grace periods to cover trade in some goods by 2023. The two men are due to meet Wednesday afternoon, together with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
‘Serious Error’
In the letter, Gove described the Commission’s decision as a “serious error”, adding that “the feelings of disappointment were particularly acute, given the concerns that had already arisen about the practical operation of the Protocol and its economic and social effects”.
Updating the UK Parliament on Tuesday, Gove was blunt about the damage he thought the EU had done, saying that the European Commission in Brussels had “screwed up”
“In the past few days, we’ve seen an increase in community tension,” said Gove. “We will work in the coming days to correct the difficulties on the ground.”
Under the Brexit agreement, the authorities were given grace periods in shipment checks between Britain and Northern Ireland for supermarkets and their suppliers, chilled meats, medicines and parcel deliveries. Extending them until 2023 would take preparations beyond the next election to the Northern Ireland Assembly, scheduled for May 2022.
‘Different Space’
Before his appearance in Parliament on Wednesday, Johnson held talks with Northern Ireland’s Prime Minister, Arlene Foster. Paisley said the meeting was positive.
“The Prime Minister is in a very different space,” said Paisley. “He was taken by surprise,” he added. “He has now moved away from that terrible language that we saw was just ‘initial problems’.”
EU and UK officials have temporarily suspended some checks at ports in the region after what the Middle East Antrim Council called “an increase in sinister and threatening behavior”. This included “graffiti within the local area referencing rising tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol and describing port staff as targets”.
The EU told staff working in Northern Ireland not to work on Tuesday, the day after the region stopped physical inspections of animal products at the ports of Belfast and Larne amid security concerns. Document checks will continue and the measure will be kept under review, Northern Ireland’s Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.
– With the help of Emily Ashton, Peter Flanagan and Tim Ross