BORIS Johnson has rubbished EU claims he was planning to rip up the Withdrawal Agreement as a massive war of words over Brexit exploded. Trade talks with Brussels were hanging by a thread after both sides threatened to pull out over the row. Ahead of face to face talks in London, the PM scotched claims […]
BORIS Johnson has rubbished EU claims he was planning to rip up the Withdrawal Agreement as a massive war of words over Brexit exploded.
Trade talks with Brussels were hanging by a thread after both sides threatened to pull out over the row.
Ahead of face to face talks in London, the PM scotched claims he was watering down promises made last year about the Northern Ireland border.
Today the EU erupted over suggestions the PM wants to tear up 2019’s Withdrawal Agreement.
After Mr Johnson set a mid-October deadline to get a trade deal inked and avoid tariffs on cross border trade with the Continent, a furious row broke out that put that in fresh doubt.
Brussels was enraged after the FT claimed the UK wants to “overwrite” parts of last year’s exit deal to waterdown checks on goods flowing between Northern Ireland and the British mainland.
Despite denials from the Brits 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 in to a “farce” with “tactical games”
Top EU negotiator Michel Barnier said talks would end if the Withdrawal Agreement and its crucial Northern Ireland Protocol that avoids a hard border were not honoured.
But London insisted they were merely seeing off backdoor control from Brussels if no deal is done with legal “tidying up loose ends” and warned the EU to negotiate at pace.
The row is centred on claims Britain was 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.
France’s Europe Minister Clement Beaune warned there’s now “a high risk” of no deal unless the UK backs down.
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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