{"id":29869,"date":"2023-02-28T02:58:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T02:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=29869"},"modified":"2023-02-28T03:00:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T03:00:46","slug":"29869","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2023\/02\/28\/29869\/","title":{"rendered":"UK and EU seeks new chapter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rishi Sunak has hailed a \u201cnew chapter\u201d in the UK\u2019s relationship with the EU as he secured a deal to end the long-running dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, described a \u201cdecisive breakthrough\u201d at a joint news conference in Windsor after four months of intense negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a carefully choreographed announcement that appeared to leave hardline Brexiters more isolated, Sunak claimed the changes would allow the UK \u201ctake back control\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cToday\u2019s agreement is written in the language of laws and treaties. But really it\u2019s about much more than that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about stability in Northern Ireland. It\u2019s about real people and real businesses. It\u2019s about showing that our union that has lasted for centuries can and will endure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal, labelled the \u201cWindsor framework\u201d, goes further than previously expected by giving the UK government an \u201cemergency brake\u201d on new EU laws applied in Northern Ireland if politicians in the province object to them. Von der Leyen stressed this was an \u201cemergency mechanism\u201d and the European court of justice would have the final say on single market issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement will create a new green lane for traders, scrapping all trade restrictions between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and new freedoms for medicines, chilled meats and pets to move over the Irish Sea. It also re-writes parts of the existing protocol to allow Westminster to set VAT rates in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal was welcomed by the main UK opposition parties \u2013 with the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, saying that while it was \u201cnot perfect\u201d he understood there was an obligation to make it work \u2013 as well as many Conservative MPs who have been desperate for the prime minister to resolve the dispute before the next general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Sunak still faces discord from the hardline Brexiter wing of his party amid concerns over the continued role of EU law in Northern Ireland. Government insiders believe he can limit any rebellion to about 20 Tory MPs when the Commons is eventually given a vote, not expected to be this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said it was \u201cclear that significant progress had been secured across a number of areas\u201d which \u201cvindicated the Democratic Unionist party\u2019s year-long boycott of power-sharing in protest against the protocol\u201d.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there were concerns among some hardliners with Ian Paisley, the DUP MP, saying that the Windsor framework \u201cdoes not cut the mustard\u201d and provided no basis for the party to go back into power-sharing in Stormont.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Farry, of Northern Ireland\u2019s Alliance party, said it broadly welcomed the agreement but had \u201cmassive concerns over the Stormont break\u201d. He told the prime minister: \u201cThere are real dangers that this process could add more instability into the assemble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boris Johnson, who negotiated the original protocol in 2020 despite all the problems it created on the ground in Northern Ireland, was understood to be studying and reflecting on the proposals. However, he was said to have urged the DUP to be cautious about the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former prime minister\u2019s controversial legislation to override post-Brexit rules on Northern Ireland, on ice in the House of Lords, was dumped by Sunak after he negotiated the new deal. Johnson had warned his successor that scrapping the legislation would be a \u201cgreat mistake\u201d, but Sunak said there was no longer legal justification for the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guardian reported last month that the attorney general, Victoria Prentis, had warned the bill was likely legally unsound because of the progress of the negotiations \u2013 and the \u201cdoctrine of necessity\u201d no longer applied in order to give cover to override international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rishi
Rishi Sunak, during his statement to the House of Commons. Photograph: Jessica Taylor\/UK Parliament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In advance of the announcement in Windsor, which took place underneath a portrait of the late Queen, Von der Leyen\u2019s arrival was overshadowed by an extraordinary row over the role of King Charles in the final deal \u2013 who had tea with the EU leader in Windsor Castle after it was sealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Buckingham Palace and No 10 sought to place the responsibility on each other, but the meeting angered Tory Brexiters and some senior figures in the DUP who claimed that it risked dragging the king into a divisive political issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DUP\u2019s former first minister Arlene Foster said it was \u201ccrass and will go down very badly in Northern Ireland\u201d but the Labour MP Chris Bryant also raised concerns, saying it was a \u201cterrible mistake from the government \u2013 we should never bring the monarchy into political disputes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both leaders emphasised a step-change in the relationship between the UK and the EU, with Von der Leyen addressing the prime minister as \u201cDear Rishi\u201d and saying she had taken \u201ca great sense of satisfaction\u201d in building a new constructive partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Von der Leyen hinted that the deal would open the door to a closer and more constructive relationship with the EU including, as its first steps, closer participation to Brussels programmes, as well as working together on Ukraine and the climate crisis.Rishi Sunak renounces Northern Ireland protocol in praise of new agreement with EU \u2013 video<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Windsor framework will create a new green lane for traders, scrapping all trade restrictions between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and new freedoms for medicines, chilled meats and pets to move over the Irish Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It involves the re-writing of parts of the protocol, something the prime minister pointed out the EU said it would never do during negotiations with his predecessors and David Frost, the former Brexit negotiator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key for consumers is the elimination the border in the Irish sea for consumers goods sold in supermarkets, consumed in canteens or bought online with checks and customs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In what as seen as the most radical change to the protocol, a new mechanism, dubbed the Stormont brake, will give the UK a veto on any to EU laws applying to trade in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is based on a mechanism in the Good Friday Agreement known as the petition of concern, which allows a group of at least 30 members of the legislative assembly to block new laws unless they have cross-community consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal also gives the UK the power to set its own VAT, alcohol tax and state aid rules and clears the way for a permanent solution to the issue of medicine supply in Northern Ireland allowing drugs authorised by British regulatory authorities to be supplied to the NHS in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the deal is ratified in London and Brussels, the Northern Ireland protocol will fall away. Von der Leyen said the EU would also start the process of ratifying the UK\u2019s associate membership of the Horizon Europe \u00a385bn flagship science research programme which the UK has been frozen out of in a tit-for-tat retaliation by the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the same time the EU will drop the seven EU infringement proceedings launched after the UK\u2019s decision to unilaterally dis-apply the protocol in 2021 and table the Northern Ireland protocol bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Irish government has welcomed the protocol deal as a \u201cnew chapter\u201d in relations between the EU and UK and an opportunity to end Northern Ireland\u2019s political vacuum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said the agreement, if implemented, would bring stability and certainty to a situation that has been in flux. It should strengthen relations between Dublin and London and pave the restoration of power-sharing in Northern Ireland, he told a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ireland\u2019s foreign minister, Miche\u00e1l Martin, said the deal opened a \u201cnew chapter\u201d for the EU and UK, who he said were natural partners in addressing global challenges from Ukraine to the climate crisis. \u201cIt is in Ireland\u2019s interests that the EU and the UK have a positive, forward-looking relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal also seemingly won the approval of Joe Biden, who called the agreement an \u201cessential step to ensuring that the hard-earned peace and progress of the Belfast\/Good Friday Agreement is preserved and strengthened\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guardian <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rishi Sunak has hailed a \u201cnew chapter\u201d in the UK\u2019s relationship with the EU as he secured a deal to end the long-running dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol. The prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, described a \u201cdecisive breakthrough\u201d at a joint news conference in Windsor after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":29867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[6850,6612,6728,8731,5178,11941,9204,5090,157,75,5307,5268,1904,6900,7777,10000,8051,10507,8440,12950,5262,2731,913,3206,12785,6144,11364,1634,911,8660,159,6621,9505,6564,10196,5345,12248,6032,2264,9723,8941,644,1091,10925,10954,6449,2471,10419,8331,7874,1828,4691,10342,12329,1416,3684,10742,10303,9833,8997,5316,278,2402,8000,3570,2695,9570,6332,1198,5396,12630,11698,3805,3174,5561,3927,10214,5266,2381,1664,9849,6988,8302,5149,1502,6272,255,10329,8050,12605,10412,6133,5180,7231,10976,6238,8632,6555,8033,10044,6267,3954,5436,10415,594],"class_list":["post-29869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-aid","tag-alcohol","tag-alliance","tag-belfast","tag-biden","tag-bill","tag-border","tag-boris","tag-boris-johnson","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-british","tag-brussels","tag-buckingham-palace","tag-chris-bryant","tag-conservative","tag-consumers","tag-court","tag-crisis","tag-customs","tag-cut","tag-david-frost","tag-democratic","tag-democratic-unionist-party","tag-dispute","tag-drugs","tag-dublin","tag-dup","tag-election","tag-essential","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-commission","tag-first-minister","tag-foreign-minister","tag-frozen","tag-goods","tag-government","tag-great-britain","tag-horizon-europe","tag-house-of-commons","tag-house-of-lords","tag-ice","tag-international","tag-ireland","tag-joe-biden","tag-justice","tag-keir-starmer","tag-king-charles","tag-labour","tag-labour-leader","tag-law","tag-laws","tag-leo-varadkar","tag-london","tag-market","tag-medicine","tag-meeting","tag-micheal-martin","tag-monarchy","tag-mp","tag-mps","tag-negotiations","tag-nhs","tag-northern-ireland","tag-northern-ireland-protocol","tag-online","tag-parliament","tag-peace","tag-petition","tag-politicians","tag-president","tag-prime-minister","tag-protest","tag-queen","tag-rates","tag-rishi-sunak","tag-science","tag-stephen","tag-stormont","tag-successor","tag-sunak","tag-taoiseach","tag-tax","tag-the-monarchy","tag-tory","tag-trade","tag-traders","tag-uk","tag-uk-government","tag-uk-parliament","tag-ukraine","tag-union","tag-ursula","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-vat","tag-veto","tag-video","tag-von-der-leyen","tag-westminster","tag-will","tag-windsor","tag-work","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}