London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 09, 2025

US congress delegation to fly to London as Northern Ireland protocol concerns grow

US congress delegation to fly to London as Northern Ireland protocol concerns grow

Exclusive: Influential representatives likely to underline Biden’s commitment to defend Good Friday agreement

A delegation of influential US congress representatives will fly to London within days amid growing concern in the White House about spiralling tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, the Guardian can reveal.

With the UK government poised to table legislation next week which could revoke parts of the protocol, arrangements are being made for at least half a dozen representatives from the US Congress to fly to Europe for a series of meetings in Brussels, Dublin, London and Belfast.

The delegation will be headed by the influential chair of the ways and means committee, Richie Neal, which has significant power over future trade deals.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has previously said the US intends to appoint its own envoy to Northern Ireland.

Neal, whose interest in Northern Ireland stretches over three decades, said earlier this year that a trade deal was “desirable” but that it would not progress if there was “any jeopardy” to the Good Friday agreement.

The delegation is likely to underline President Biden’s commitment to defending the Good Friday agreement and the US’s role as a guarantor. He has repeatedly emphasised how integral the protocol is to maintaining peace and stability.

“The best path forward is a pragmatic one that requires courage, co-operation and leadership,” a White House spokesman said of the UK’s dispute with the EU.

Boris Johnson is expected to give a speech as soon as Monday on the future of the protocol after exchanges between the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, and the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, which a UK source described as “tetchy”.

In a phone call, Truss said that unless the EU showed the “requisite flexibility” in talks over the trading arrangements she would have “no choice but to act”.

Johnson, who negotiated the protocol as part of the Brexit agreement, firmly backed Truss on Thursday, saying “institutions set up under the Good Friday agreement aren’t functioning” and political governance in Northern Ireland has collapsed.

“The people of Northern Ireland need leadership, they need a regional, a provincial government … they haven’t got that,” Johnson said, after a discussion of the strategy with cabinet ministers.

“That’s a real problem. And the reason they don’t have that is because there’s one community in Northern Ireland that won’t accept the way the protocol works at present – we’ve got to fix that.”

The UK has sent Johnson’s close ally Conor Burns as an envoy on the protocol to speak to senior figures in Washington over the course of the week, including meeting a special Northern Ireland committee of congressmen on Friday.

Both Truss and Burns have argued that negotiations have reached a crunch point because of the impasse at Stormont, where the Democratic Unionist party has said it will not re-enter the Northern Ireland executive while the issues with the protocol remain.

On Thursday, Truss and Šefčovič spoke for the first time since it was revealed the UK was considering tabling draft legislation to unilaterally override part of the trading arrangements.

The standoff between the two is testing wider relations with the EU at a time when “bigger things”, such as Finland joining Nato, are happening, Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said on Thursday.

A UK government source said Truss had argued that the lack of a functioning executive in Northern Ireland was a key security concern that merited the response.

“Liz’s primary concern in all this is upholding the Belfast Good Friday agreement,” they said. “The protocol is the major cause of political instability – disrupting trade and creating a two-tier system where people in Northern Ireland are treated differently to the rest of the UK. So it’s clear and obvious that we need to change the parts that aren’t working.

“If the EU won’t help us do that and show more pragmatism, then we’ll have to take action that solves those problems. That would very much be in disappointment rather than anger.”

David McAllister, a German centre-right MEP who chairs the European parliament’s UK coordination group, said the EU was united against renegotiating the protocol.

“The protocol was signed and ratified by both sides. Nobody here in Brussels is interested in starting these new complicated discussions and political fights,” he said.

Truss said she had told Šefčovič the protocol was “the greatest obstacle” to forming a new Northern Ireland executive after last week’s elections. There are no further plans for the pair to speak.

Šefčovič told her there was “no room to expand the negotiating mandate or introduce new proposals to reduce the overall level of trade fiction”, according to a Foreign Office statement. The government called it a matter of “regret” that the EU “would not show the requisite flexibility to help solve those issues … then, as a responsible government, we would have no choice but to act.”

Sefčovič said it remained of “serious concern that the UK government intends to embark on the path of unilateral action”. He said the EU was still waiting for the UK’s response to proposals it made in February. “We have made clear that there is still potential to be explored in our proposals,” he said.

“Unilateral action, effectively disapplying an international agreement such as the protocol, is simply not acceptable.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Political Dispute Escalates Between Trump and Musk
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
US Senate Votes to Remove AI Regulation Moratorium from Domestic Policy Bill
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
Jury Deliberations in Diddy Trial Yield Partial Verdict in Serious Criminal Charges
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×