In his first Commons announcement as prime minister, Boris Johnson had called for the "abolition" of the Irish backstop, then still the only mechanism on the table to avoid a hard Irish border.
On 1 October, RTÉ News reported that the UK was proposing a string of "customs clearance sites" along, but 5km-10km back from, the Irish border. A week later Angela Merkel told Boris Johnson by phone that the EU would not accept such a border on the island of Ireland. No deal was starting to look like a runaway certainty.
The Northern Ireland Protocol was revised, the Withdrawal Agreement clinched, no deal was avoided, and Johnson won an 80-seat majority for his troubles. In other words, the UK has always known there would be controls on goods crossing the Irish Sea, and by insisting on a hard Brexit the UK chose to make those controls more onerous than they might have been.
Northern Ireland civil servants were already in a legal quagmire when Minister for Agriculture Gordon Lyons ordered work to be stopped on permanent Border Control Posts - mandated by the protocol - at Larne and Belfast ports. "We were, fairly unapologetically, trying to act as an interpreter between the British and EU side," says a senior Irish Government source. "Of course, the legs have been whipped out from under us by the British manoeuvre because it was done unilaterally. Obviously, we have no choice now but to double down on the EU side."
"Instead of offering the other cheek, the commission should think again about what kinds of elements we have, if we are really living in a world of distrust and non-compliance," the diplomat said.The claim is that back in December it was acknowledged by both sides that the three-month grace period for supermarkets to adapt to the new regime of export health certificates for agri-food products would not be long enough.
However, now London insists that since supermarkets need a few weeks to order food consignments in advance, and since the EU still had not agreed to extend the grace periods, supermarket shelves would have started to empty from 1 April. That being said, there is a narrow political space for things to be salvaged. UK officials say that the unilateral action was not unlawful because London was not abjuring the protocol. Rather, it was taking practical steps to ensure that acute hardships were avoided, but while on the pathway to full compliance.
tconnellyRTE Interesting but one sided and bogged down in detail - the perfect metaphor for the EU. If people in Donegal buy a few Dahlias packaged in British soil in Asda then the single market will not collapse. UK is dealing with practical difficulties - EUseless should reciprocate.
tconnellyRTE How will the EU invoking Article 122, to cover up their vaccine failures, impact the NI Protocol? 😙
tconnellyRTE Political theatre
tconnellyRTE The world is looking on at the EU and shaking their heads.
tconnellyRTE Boris will keep doing what Boris wants what will happen then?
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