Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is Boris about to bin the Northern Ireland protocol?

Attorney General Suella Braverman (Getty images)

Here we go. The UK is on the brink of another Brexit battle as ministers consider unveiling legislation that would unilaterally overwrite parts of the Northern Ireland protocol. This morning the Foreign Secretary spoke to the European Commission’s vice president Maroš Šefčovič – warning that the protocol has ‘become the greatest obstacle to forming a Northern Ireland Executive’. Liz Truss said that the situation in Northern Ireland is a matter of internal peace and security for the United Kingdom so if the EU did not show the required flexibility, the government would be left with no choice but to act.

Suella Braverman’s legal advice to No. 10 is that legislating to override the protocol would be legal

What does that action look like? As James Forsyth first revealed in The Spectator, the UK is looking to legislate to protect the Belfast Good Friday agreement by unilaterally tearing up parts of the Brexit deal related to Northern Ireland.

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