MP: EU risks Good Friday Agreement because of its heavy-handedness
Last week the Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon James Cleverly MP, appeared before the European Scrutiny Committee, of which John Baron MP is a member. The Foreign Secretary gave evidence to the committee towards a report on the UK’s new relationship with the EU.
In the Committee, John asked,
“Thanks for joining us today, Foreign Secretary…For negotiations to succeed, good will has to be reciprocated. When the Northern Ireland protocol was being negotiated, it was on the general understanding that a light touch would be applied by the EU, provided there was no evidence of distortions to trade elsewhere within the customs union. There has been no such evidence, and yet…there are more EU customs checks on the GB-Northern Ireland routes than there are at Rotterdam, which, as you well know, caters for an awful lot of trade from the world into the EU…”
“Why do you think that the EU is adopting this hard line when there is no evidence of distortion and when we have a strong regulatory regime?…Why do they have problems with us operating the red and green lanes, for example, for GB-Northern Ireland trade? Why is there a lack of trust by the EU?”
The Foreign Secretary replied that it is difficult for him to assess the EU’s motivations, but that there was an enhanced focus on EU checks on trade through Northern Ireland.
John then asked,
“I take on board what you say. There might be a softening, but in terms of a Sainsbury’s truck filled with pork pies from Lancashire heading into Northern Ireland—they do not have Sainsbury’s south of the border—you are pretty sure that that is going to remain within Northern Ireland. It is still having to complete hundreds of pages of documentation. That is completely disproportionate…Are you doing all you can to make this point to the EU? It is endangering the Good Friday agreement, which is something that is very dear to all of us.”
The Foreign Secretary replied that there is a pragmatic way forward, recognising that there is a difference between theoretical trade risks and actual trade risks.
John also asked two further questions about the Northern Ireland Protocol and the risks to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. A full transcript is available online at: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/11579/pdf.
John said afterwards,
“I was pleased to hear from the Foreign Secretary that productive negotiations are continuing with the EU, but hope that our European partners recognise the dangers of their heavy-handed approach. Trade remedies should be sought only if damage or distortion to markets are observed, and nearly two years into the partial operation of the Protocol there is no sign of this.”
