London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

NI Protocol: 'Historic low point' if UK unilateral action taken

NI Protocol: 'Historic low point' if UK unilateral action taken

Unilateral action by the UK on the NI Protocol would mark a "historic low point", the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Michéal Martin has said.

He made the remarks at the European Parliament on Wednesday.

But DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he found Mr Martin's comments "deeply distressing".

The government was expected to publish legislation on Thursday which would allow UK ministers to override parts of the protocol..

However, this legislation is now not expected until Monday.

Mr Martin accused Downing Street of having acted in "bad faith".

But Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey accused the Irish government of being "tone deaf" to the concerns of unionists over the NI Protocol.

Speaking to a House of Lords committee on Wednesday, he said: "They don't get it - and if they do, they ignore it. I don't think they're listening to the concerns we have."

He added that he believed it was "wrong" that unionists were being treated as "second-class citizens", due to the trade barriers with Great Britain.

He also told the committee that there needed to be a significant "treaty change", as opposed to cosmetic changes with the legislation.

During Prime Minister's Questions in Westminster, Boris Johnson told MPs "the most important commitment that everybody in this house has made is to the balance and symmetry of the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement".

"That is our highest legal, international priority and it is what we must deliver."

Boris Johnson answered a question about the protocol during Prime Minister's Question Time


In May, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she would bring forward a new law to Westminster which would change the post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland.

The taoiseach said it was "perfectly reasonable" to want to make improvements to the protocol but warned that any attempt to do so outside the agreed joint mechanisms would damage the rule of law.


What is the protocol?


The trade deal - the NI Protocol - governs how goods enter Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK and was agreed by the UK government and the European Union following the Brexit vote in 2019.

It was designed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland when the UK left the European Union.

The protocol led to the creation of new goods checks at Northern Ireland sea ports on some products from Great Britain, effectively creating a new trade border in the Irish Sea.


Unionist parties, including the DUP, argue that this has led to extra costs and unnecessary delays, as well as undermining the union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

A row over its impact has created a block on forming a devolved government in Northern Ireland, with the DUP stopping the assembly from sitting or a new executive being formed since Sinn Féin emerged as the largest party in May's election.

The DUP, which has the second highest number of Stormont seats, has refused to support the election of a new speaker or first and deputy first minister until there is "action" on the protocol.

At the Lords committee, Sir Jeffrey again defended this decision.

"There is not cross-community support for this protocol, we need to get back to that consensus so that we can restore the institutions which is what I want to see happening," he added.

"The lifeblood has been so eroded by this protocol - no more prevarication we need this matter dealt with for Northern Ireland to progress."


'Reckless and damaging'


Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill said any action taken by the British government alone would be "unacceptable to the wider public and majority of MLAs who support the protocol".

"The threats by Boris Johnson to take unilateral action by legislating today, tomorrow or any day to breach an international agreement and undermine international rule of law is a dereliction of duty," she tweeted.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said he was concerned frustrations over the protocol could "boil over" in the summer if action was not taken.

He was speaking at the same Lords committee as Sir Jeffrey and warned that tensions within unionism could continue to grow.

Mr Beattie said: "If you look at last year and the summer of last year we had Covid and the command paper - in many cases it kept much of the frustration down.

"If there's nothing this summer those frustrations could come to boil if people do not move to fix the problems we have - it doesn't take much to go from a brick to a stone, a stone to a petrol bomb, a bomb to a bullet and a bullet to a coffin.

"I'm not trying to scare or saying that is going to happen but frustrations could boil over."

Colum Eastwood warned that continued disfunction at Stormont would lead to cold homes and hungry children


Colum Eastwood, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Foyle MP, was critical of the UK government's approach to the protocol which he described as "a reckless and damaging course of action".

He said the government "claims to want to protect the Good Friday Agreement but in word and deed they have abandoned the politics of consensus", adding it had "ignored the clear will of people across the north".

Meanwhile, NI Minister Lord Caine said he hopes the new protocol bill will be published "very shortly" but could not commit to a time frame.

"Both houses [of Parliament] will take their scrutiny functions very seriously but it would be very foolish for people to try and frustrate, delay and hold this up because I think that would make the situation in NI worse than it is now," he told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

He added that it was widely acknowledged there were problems with the protocol and that the government was conscious an executive at Stormont would not be restored until it was dealt with.

Belfast-born Conservative MP Conor Burns said the protocol has resulted in "ridiculously excessive checks"


Minister of State for Northern Ireland Conor Burns told Irish state broadcaster RTÉ that the government is "recalibrating, not tearing up, the implementation of the protocol".

He added: "We recognise the attractiveness of the protocol and the place that it leaves Northern Ireland in.

"But the reality is that we have now got ridiculously excessive checks on goods that are moving within the United Kingdom's internal market that will never go near the Irish Republic, that are absolutely no threat whatsoever to the integrity of the single market."


'Poking Boris Johnson in the eye'


Speaking in London on Tuesday, DUP MP Sammy Wilson told the BBC he felt there was "still some work to be done" on the government's new protocol bill.

He said he believed the government "has got the message" in terms of the "headline issues in the bill" but added that questions remained over how it will address his party's concerns "in the detail of the regulations".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×