PM NI-bound for crisis protocol talks
Boris Johnson says that any 'fix' to protocol issues must include the restoration of powersharing.
Last updated 16th May 2022
The UK Prime Minister is traveling to Northern Ireland today (Monday) for crunch talks about the Northern Ireland protocol with political parties.
NI officially entered political deadlock on Friday, when the DUP’s protest over the protocol compelled the party to refuse to elect a speaker for the Stormont Assembly, which means the devolved government cannot function.
'A necessity to act'
Ahead of his journey, Boris Johnson wrote a 2,200 word article in the Belfast Telegraph.
In the piece, he said that the UK will have “a necessity to act” if the European Union does not budge on its’ stance – which is that the NI protocol is a binding international treaty and has to stay.
It is understood that his ministers will table emergency laws to scrap customs checks on goods arriving here from GB. This unilateral action could lead to retaliatory measures.
Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill, who, because of the impasse has been blocked from becoming the first ever Nationalist First Minister, will be meeting Mr Johnson today.
The would-be Stormont leader says she thinks the PM's threat is "feeding political instability".
Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has also warned that any unilateral move would be "deeply harmful" to UK-Ireland relations and could "fundamentally undermine" the functioning of the institutions of the peace process in Northern Ireland.
"The last thing the EU wants, the last thing that Ireland wants, is tension with the UK, particularly at the moment given what's happening in Ukraine, Russian aggression, and the need to work together on an international stage," he told Sky News.
But speaking during the debate to elect a Speaker on Friday, DUP caretaker Economy Minister Gordon Lyons said that it is the Protocol which undermines the peace.
Any 'fix' must involve restoring power-sharing
Downing Street said Mr Johnson will use a series of private meetings in Belfast on Monday to deliver a "tough message" that any "fix" to the protocol must involve the parties coming together to form an Executive and Assembly.
He is expected to say that while the UK Government will "play its part to ensure political stability", politicians must "get back to work" so they can deliver on "bread-and-butter issues" for the voters.
Ahead of his visit, however, Sinn Fein - which is now the biggest party in the Assembly following the elections - accused the Prime Minister of being "in cahoots" with the DUP and supporting its "blocking tactics".
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