The UK government would be acting in an "anti-democratic" way if it goes through with its threat to over-ride elements of the post-Brexit treaty, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said.
Speaking on BBC Radio Four, he said the European Union wanted to implement the Northern Ireland protocol with “flexibility and pragmatism” to take account of unionist concerns.
Asked what were the implications of the UK government taking unilateral action on the protocol, Mr Coveney said: “People across the United Kingdom need to understand what that means, it means that your government is deliberately deciding to breach international law, which is something that every former prime minister still alive in Britain has warned against.
“It means that the British government would be deliberately acting in an anti-democratic way because 53 of the 90 MLAs elected to the Assembly in Northern Ireland are supportive of the protocol.”
He added: “Don’t forget this treaty was designed and ratified and agreed by the British government under this prime minister.
“He stood for election and got a huge mandate from the British people on the back of that deal and now is blaming the deal for the problems in Northern Ireland.”
However, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said the EU was trying to make the UK “feel bad” about Brexit through its approach to dealing with the Northern Ireland protocol.
On Thursday, the Taoiseach warned the British government that taking unilateral action on the Northern Ireland protocol would destabilise the Belfast Agreement, as a war of words between the EU and London over the issue intensified.
In unusually blunt language, which officials said was in response to British threats to scrap parts of the post-Brexit arrangement, Micheál Martin said “unilateralism flies in the face” of the approach that delivered the peace process, which involved “both governments working hand in glove and together”.
British government ministers have been increasingly hinting they could take unilateral action on the protocol, with Boris Johnson arguing the Belfast Agreement is more important than the protocol he signed up to.
European leaders have warned the UK not to make the incendiary move, amid fears it could provoke a trade war with Britain’s largest trading partner.
Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland are opposed to the protocol, part of the UK-EU Brexit deal, because it keeps the North aligned with the EU single market for goods.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) confirmed on Friday it would not nominate a speaker for the first sitting of Northern Ireland’s devolved Stormont Assembly as part of its protest against the protocol trading arrangements.
Mr Rees-Mogg, UK minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, told GB News: “I think it [the EU] wants to make the UK feel bad about having left the European Union and that underpins its whole policy and it doesn’t really mind about the consequences of that.
“And we just have to get on with life and recognise that we have left. We have to make our own way. We are an independent country, and what the EU wants and thinks is secondary.”
Biden administration
Meanwhile, Britain’s former Brexit minister, David Frost, has accused the Biden administration of not fully understanding Northern Ireland and the impact of the protocol.
Speaking at a Conservative think-tank in Washington DC, Mr Frost said: “I know the administration here is following this closely, I urge them to be cautious in what they say and what they do.
“Honestly, I am not convinced the niceties of Northern Ireland are well understood by this administration. I hope they will think hard before telling a friendly government how they must act to protect the unity and territorial integrity of their own country.”
On talks about agreement, Mr Frost said: “I think we’ve reached the end of the road on that in the last week or so. I think the government’s got no choice but to act unilaterally.
“We don’t need lectures from others about the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. We’re well aware of this and nobody wants to go back to it.
“In the end it has got to be our judgment about what is needed to preserve that agreement and preserve the unity of the country and the consent of everybody in Northern Ireland for these arrangements.”
Speaking on Friday, Mr Coveney said: “What is being looked for in Northern Ireland, from business people and many in the unionist community, what they want is to ensure that trade within the United Kingdom is facilitated and checks are removed when possible on goods that are staying in Northern Ireland.
“That is what the EU Commission wants to resolve but unfortunately they can’t do that if they don’t have a partner and there is a lot going on this week in the context of ratcheting up language, increasing tension unnecessarily between the UK and the EU.” – Additional reporting PA
