Boris Johnson said last night that the Northern Ireland Protocol is endangering the UK’s stability.
The Prime Minister said there was no need for ‘drama’ as Brussels and Washington pushed London not to reject elements of the post-Brexit accord.
However, he may rip up portions of the accord as soon as next week, and ministers are drafting legislation to unilaterally halt inspections on goods coming from the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will tell European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic in a call this morning that the EU must move or the UK will act unilaterally.
And at a press conference in Sweden yesterday, Mr Johnson said the protocol needed to be sorted out when he was asked whether now was the right time to pick a fight with Brussels.
‘The most important agreement is the 25-year-old Belfast Good Friday Agreement,’ Mr Johnson said.
That is crucial for the stability of our country, of the UK, of Northern Ireland.
‘And it means that things have got to command cross-community support.
‘Plainly the Northern Ireland Protocol fails to do that and we need to sort it out.’
He later told the BBC: ‘Let’s face it, we’re talking about – really in the scheme of things – a very, very small part of the whole European economy and I think 0.4 per cent of the value of the whole of the EU economy in Northern Ireland.
‘It is crazy. I don’t think there’s any need for drama. This is something that just needs to be fixed.’
Cabinet minister Michael Gove yesterday insisted he was ‘super cool’ with threats to rip up the agreement – despite reports he was opposed to the plan.
‘We are going to negotiate with the EU in order to get the best possible outcome for the people of Northern Ireland, but no option is off the table,’ he said.
EU officials have accused Britain of acting ‘irresponsibly’ by threatening to tear up the protocol during the Ukraine conflict.
A Brussels diplomat told The Guardian that Britain’s move threatened the international alliance against Vladimir Putin and would ‘only worsen the standing of the West’.
US President Joe Biden urged the PM not to walk away from the protocol unilaterally.
‘The best path forward is a pragmatic one that requires courage, co-operation and leadership,’ a White House spokesman said.
‘We urge the parties to continue engaging in dialogue to resolve differences and bring negotiations to a successful conclusion.’
EU leaders have also warned against ripping up the deal, including German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said: ‘No one should unilaterally cancel, break or in any way attack the settlement.’
Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns, who is the PM’s special representative to the US on the protocol, last night echoed Mr Johnson’s comments and said the deal was now the ‘greatest threat to the stability of the institutions that were born out of the Good Friday Agreement’.
But he insisted the UK wanted to ‘get this sorted in negotiations with our European friends and allies’ and said he was convinced there was ‘a landing zone’.
UK ministers are under fresh pressure to resolve issues with the protocol following last week’s historic elections in which Sinn Fein became Stormont’s largest party.
The nationalist party is now entitled to nominate a first minister – but the Democratic Unionist Party must nominate a deputy to serve alongside them in the joint office.