Coveney 'deeply regrets' unhelpful move by Britain to scrap parts of protocol

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney: 'Such unilateral action in respect of an internationally binding agreement is damaging to trust.' Picture: Rebecca Black/PA Wire

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said he "deeply regrets" the unhelpful decision by the British government to unilaterally scrap parts of the Northern Ireland protocol.

The EU will respond to unilateral action by the UK over the Northern Ireland protocol with "all measures at its disposal", according to European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič.

The threat from the EU comes after British foreign secretary Liz Truss told the House of Commons that she intends to introduce legislation in the coming weeks to "make changes" to the protocol.

"Such unilateral action in respect of an internationally binding agreement is damaging to trust and will serve only to make it more challenging to find solutions to the genuine concerns that people in Northern Ireland have about how the protocol is being implemented," Mr Coveney said.

"I welcome that [Liz Truss] has expressed her preference for a negotiated solution with the EU. The EU has indicated that it is ready and willing to resume talks with the UK at any time."

Mr Coveney said there had been no serious engagement since February between the EU and British negotiating teams to find middle ground positions and landing zones that can solve the problems [with the protocol] that are still there.

Move 'not welcome'

In the Dáil, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the unilateral move by the British government "is not welcome", "is regrettable", and "does not work".

He said the announcement by the British government raised "significant concerns".

Mr Šefčovič said the EU is prepared to move because the protocol is the solution agreed between the EU and the UK to address the challenges posed by the UK's withdrawal from the EU for the island of Ireland, and to protect the hard-earned gains of the peace process.

"Should the UK decide to move ahead with a bill disapplying constitutive elements of the protocol as announced today by the UK government, the EU will need to respond with all measures at its disposal,” he warned.

British Northern Secretary Brandon Lewis said there had been no intention to introduce legislation this week to unilaterally overwrite parts of the protocol.

'Never on the cards'

Asked whether plans to introduce domestic legislation this week had been delayed until the summer, he said: "Something like that this week was never on the cards.

"We're still debating the Queen's Speech and won't finish debating the Queen's Speech and voting on that until later this week, later tomorrow, so in that sense, it was never on the cards. But what we have always said is that we will not take anything off the table.

"We will do what we need to do to ensure that products can move to Northern Ireland in the way that they should be able to move to Northern Ireland from Great Britain as part of the United Kingdom internal market, something the protocol itself says it will respect but at the moment is not working properly.

"We would like to do that by agreement with the EU but we reserve the right to do what we need to do to do the right thing for the people of Northern Ireland and the wider United Kingdom."