UK denies it’s planning to rip up Brexit Withdrawal Agreement

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The U.K. is “committed to implementing” the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, Environment Secretary George Eustice said Monday.

Responding to a Financial Times report that the U.K. plans this week to introduce legislation that would undermine parts of the Withdrawal Agreement on state aid and Northern Ireland, Eustice told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program: “We have a Withdrawal Agreement, and that includes the Northern Ireland protocol. And we are committed to implementing that.”

Eustice said the U.K. government is seeking to merely tie up “one or two loose ends where there is a requirement for legal certainty.”

Later, in a separate interview on BBC Breakfast, Eustice said that if the U.K. failed to reach a trade deal with the EU prior to the end of the Brexit transition period, “we would still leave on time and we would do that under the terms of the existing Withdrawal Agreement that we’ve got. It’s not posturing or a threat, this has been the reality of our position right from the beginning.”

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier was asked about the FT report in an interview with France Inter radio on Monday. “It’s a press article,” he said. “What matters to me is what the [U.K.] prime minister does and says and what the British government itself does and says.”

But he added: “This protocol you’re talking about is an important part, I’ve spent many days and nights [working on it], on Ireland and Northern Ireland, to maintain the conditions of peace there: No land border, that’s the condition of peace since the end of the conflict some 20 years ago which has left 4,000 dead.”

He said Brussels would stick to what had been agreed. “This protocol is a condition to preserve peace, to preserve the integrity of the internal market, it’s also a precondition for trust between us because everything that has been signed in the past must be respected, it’s the pledge of trust for the future.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Monday: “I trust the British government to implement the Withdrawal Agreement, an obligation under international law & prerequisite for any future partnership. Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland is essential to protect peace and stability on the island & integrity of the single market.”

Overnight, EU and Northern Irish officials responded with anger to the FT report.

Speaking to Brussels Playbook, an EU diplomat said: “‘Pacta sunt servanda’ meaning ‘agreements must be kept’ is a fundamental principle in international law. If the U.K. chose not to respect its international obligations, it would undermine its international standing. Who would want to agree trade deals with a country that doesn’t implement international treaties? It would be a desperate and ultimately self-defeating strategy.”

Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill tweeted: “Any threats of a roll back on the Irish protocol would represent a treacherous betrayal which would inflict irreversible harm on the all-Ireland economy, and [the Good Friday Agreement].” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said: “This would be a very unwise way to proceed.”

Britain’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy also criticized the government, warning any move to walk back the Withdrawal Agreement “undermines our moral authority at a key moment” and “sends a clear signal the UK no longer keeps its promises.”

Meanwhile, RTÉ News reported on Monday that London had asked Dublin to “urge the European Commission to permit a range of flexibilities on how the checks and controls [on the Irish border] might be applied,” offering in return to “make it easier for Irish truck drivers to move goods across the U.K. land bridge from 1 January next year.”

Elisa Braun contributed reporting.

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