The UK government has published plans to override the agreement with the European Union governing Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements, but denied the move violates international law.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Foreign Office said the new legislation is intended to “fix parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol—making the changes necessary to restore stability and ensure the delicate balance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement is protected.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed the Northern Ireland Protocol with the E.U. in 2019 as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, with the measures aimed at preventing a hard border on the island of Ireland.
But the protocol has been fiercely opposed by unionists in the British province, who complain that it effectively keeps Northern Ireland within the E.U. single market while erecting a border in the Irish Sea between the province and mainland Britain.
Northern Ireland has not had a functioning local government since February, when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), then the largest party in the regional assembly, withdrew from the power-sharing executive in protest against the protocol.
The new legislation will enable ministers to establish a “green lane” so that trusted traders are allowed to move goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without checks, as long as the products remain within the UK.
Goods supplied by firms outside the trusted trader scheme, or products destined for Ireland and the E.U., would go through a “red lane” and face checks.
Products being placed on the market in Northern Ireland would be allowed to follow either UK or E.U. regulations, rather than having to comply with Brussels’ rules.
The UK also proposes removing the European Court of Justice as a final arbiter in trade disputes over the protocol, with the function instead handed to independent adjudicators.
The UK government insisted the bill is compatible with international law under the “doctrine of necessity” which allows obligations in treaties to be set aside under “certain, very exceptional, limited conditions.”
But the E.U. has criticised the UK’s actions for undermining trust between the two sides.
European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said the E.U. viewed the UK’s actions with “significant concern” and that it would look at launching further legal action to protect the integrity of the E.U. single market.
He added that the access of Northern Ireland businesses to the E.U. single market is now “at risk.”
Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin said it is “very regrettable for a country like the UK to renege on an international treaty.”
“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,” he said.
The UK government’s position has also been opposed by more than half of the members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, with 52 of the 90 regional legislators condemning the “reckless” plan.
But UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she was “very clear that we’re acting in line with the law” and blamed the E.U. for the failure to reach a negotiated settlement.
