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Boris Johnson blasts EU claims he was planning to tear up Withdrawal Agreement
BORIS Johnson has rubbished EU claims he was planning to rip up the Withdrawal Agreement, as a massive war of words exploded over Brexit.
Trade talks with Brussels were last night hanging by a thread after both sides threatened to pull out over the row.
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Ahead of face to face talks in London starting today, the EU erupted over suggestions the PM wanted to tear up 2019’s Withdrawal Agreement.
Brussels was enraged after the Financial Times claimed the UK wanted to “overwrite” parts of last year’s exit deal to water down checks on goods flowing between Northern Ireland and the British mainland.
Despite denials from the Government that they were just seeking legal “clarity”, Bernd Lange, chairman of the EU Parliament trade committee, said the talks are “doomed” if the UK breaks its word.
He fumed: “We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed.”
And he accused Boris Johnson of turning the talks into a “farce” with “tactical games”.
Top EU negotiator Michel Barnier said talks would end if the Withdrawal Agreement - and particularly the Northern Ireland Protocol, which avoids a hard border - were not honoured.
But London insisted they were merely seeing off back-door control from Brussels in the venet of No Deal and warned the EU to negotiate at pace.
'COMPLETELY COMMITTED'
The row is centred on claims Britain is attempting to change the agreement over what goods will be liable for checks when travelling into Northern Ireland.
An official list is being drawn up by a Joint Committee of what goods might end up in the EU by moving through the province and via the Irish republic land border.
The UK/EU group have been meeting regularly all year to hammer out the list, but the UK fears the list will not be ready by the end of the year.
If talks collapse, Britain wants to be able to decide what goods are exempt from cross-border tariffs that would go up in a No Deal scenario.
But Brussels argue they want a level of control to decide if their import taxes apply too.
No10 insisted they are just trying to avoid legal chaos in a No Deal scenario rather than backslide on previous promises.
An angry official hit back: “The government is completely committed, as it always has been, to implementing the Northern Ireland Protocol in good faith.”
A new law will be published this week that sets out Britain’s position — with No10 arguing it had to come this week in order to get through Parliament by December.
However last night European leaders warned time was running out.
Q&A
BOTH Boris Johnson and Brussels say trade talks are stuck on major issues — state aid, fish and Northern Ireland — but both agree a deal has to be done by next month. So what are the sticking points really about?
Q: Why October?
A: Brussels says a deal is needed by October 31 at the latest if the EU Parliament is to have enough time to scrutinise and vote on it. The PM agrees — setting an even earlier October 15 deadline. Both sides agree firms need to be given enough time to prepare.
Q: What is state aid?
A: State aid is financial assistance given to individual businesses or certain sectors of the economy by the Government. Brussels does not want the UK to give domestic companies an unfair advantage after Brexit. But Mr Johnson says it’s our right to do what we want as an independent nation.
Q: Why the row over fish?
A: UK trawlermen say they have suffered for years under the bloc’s Common Fisheries Policy. No10 wants to change how quotas are divvied up, doubling the spoils for our fishermen. But EU bosses say the result will wipe out a third of the EU’s fleet.
Q: What is the NI Protocol?
A: It’s a legal fix bolted on to last year’s Brexit deal to make sure there’s no return to a hard border in Ireland. Both sides agreed Northern Ireland will, in effect, stay in the EU’s single market. But a row has broken out over what would happen in a No Deal scenario.
Q: What does the UK want?
A: The UK wants to exempt some goods heading from GB to NI, such as supermarket products and live animals, from some checks and automatic tariffs. It is also seeking a workaround on EU rules which will mean all companies sending items from NI to GB will have to fill out exit declarations.
Q: What does the EU want?
A: In a recent speech Michel Barnier vowed to make sure the EU’s customs code is “applied in its entirety” for all goods entering and leaving NI.
Q: How does this affect talks?
A: EU boss Ursula von der Leyen says there will be no trade deal unless the Protocol is honoured in full.
Q: What happens next?
A: The two sides will meet in London today. If the UK and EU cannot reach an agreement by the end of the year, full tariffs and quotas will be applied to all goods traded between the UK and the EU.
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France’s Europe Minister, Clement Beaune, warned there’s now “a high risk” of no deal unless the UK backs down.
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But UK Chief Negotiator Lord Frost hit back: “We need to see more realism from the EU about our status as an independent country.
“As we have done from the beginning in public and in private, I will reinforce our simple, reasonable request for a free trade agreement based on those the EU has signed before with like-minded partners.”
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