Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that planned legislation by the UK government to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol would be in breach of international law and should not be taken forward.
Speaking after meeting party leaders in Northern Ireland on Friday, Sir Keir said that the Protocol’s issues can instead be overcome through “guile and hard work” in negotiating with the EU.
The BBC says that it expects the government to publish draft legislation enabling unilateral action on Monday, and that foreign secretary Liz Truss is keen for it to clear the Commons prior to the summer recess.
However, Sir Keir believes that this move by government will only hamper the UK in negotiations rather than strengthen its position.
He said: “I think it will be an impediment to the negotiations.
“When I think of all the issues, all the challenges that have been overcome in the last 20 years I don't think that the remaining issues of the Protocol are incapable of resolution.”
The Labour leader explained that he thought there was suitable scope for a veterinary agreement to be struck with the EU, which could resolve a “high percentage” of the overall issues in the Protocol arrangement.
Sir Keir has also promised local party leaders that he will vote against the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which will protect individuals who co-operate with investigations run by the new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery from prosecution. The Bill has drawn criticism from Northern Irish parties and campaign groups.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood praised Sir Keir, who had held talks with Irish president Michael Daniel Higgins, taoiseach [prime minister] Michéal Martin and Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney in Dublin before meeting Northern Irish party leaders in Belfast.
Eastwood said that a “grown-up in leadership in London engaging properly with political parties here and with the Irish government” had been “missing, frankly, from this British government over the past number of years.”
Eastwood added: “What we've seen from Boris Johnson has been unilateral action on legacy. Now, on Monday, we're going to see unilateral action on the Protocol, having had no conversations with parties here, no conversations with the Irish government, and just taking a wrecking ball to the progress that we've had.”
The Northern Ireland Protocol is a major bone of contention within the Brexit deal agreed between the UK government and the EU. The mechanism prevents a hard border between Northern Ireland and the neighbouring Republic but means that checks must be carried out on some goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
This effectively creates an Irish Sea trade border, which unionists argue undermines Northern Ireland’s position in the UK and hampers the local economy.
The ensuing row over the Protocol has led to the Democratic Unionist Party [DUP] blocking the formation of a new devolved government in Northern Ireland as an act of protest.
Power-sharing arrangements in the region dictate that the nomination of a Stormont speaker and ministers requires both nationalist and unionist consent. Given the DUP's opposition, a functioning government has been unable to form since May’s assembly elections, which saw Sinn Féin emerge as the largest party.
Naomi Long, leader of the Alliance party, called for reforms to ensure that the opposition of single parties would not be able to prevent an executive from forming in the future.
She added that the Protocol issues did not justify the UK government pursuing legislation allowing for unilateral action, simply to appease the DUP and restore the devolved government.
Long said: “If the government wants to take some legislation forward so that these institutions here can be restored and that they can do that on a stable footing, they should be looking to reform these institutions in legislation to ensure that no party can hold the institutions to ransom going forward.”
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
