Liz Truss declines to commit to passing the Northern Ireland Protocol bill in full; Sunak pledges to stand up to EU over NI

(Scroll down for link to Ms Truss’s article, and also an article on Mr Sunak’s comments on Northern Ireland)

Ahead of today’s Conservative leadership debate in Belfast, Ms Truss has written for News Letter, but been unable to promise categorically if she would prevent any attempts externally or by the House of Lords to water down the NI Protocol Bill.

Ms Truss has been perceived as taking a more hard-line stance with the EU in defence of the legislation which would override elements of the protocol that unionists say threaten the province’s link to rest of UK.

(Scroll down for more of this article and links to Ms Truss and Mr Sunak on NI)

So when her article for us cited her role in creating the NI Protocol Bill but gave no assurance of its passage, we asked if she would guarantee its full delivery. Ms Truss declined to add that to the article.

However, the ex chancellor Rishi Sunak vowed to resist pressure from Brussels and Washington to dilute the bill.

Mr Sunak told the News Letter he would have “no qualms” in refusing to bow to the EU and the Biden White House over Northern Ireland.

Mr Sunak said: “I will not bow to pressure from Brussels or Washington.I am an experienced international negotiator, and you can trust me to deliver.”

He said he used his presidency of the G7 finance ministers to make multinational companies pay their share of tax and that he worked with other countries to put in place tough sanctions to punish Russia for invading Ukraine.

“I will have no qualms in resisting international pressure,” Mr Sunak said.

In her article, the foreign secretary blames the protocol for a “sense that the rights and aspirations of some parts of the community are being undermined”.

Ms Truss said: “The first duty of any UK government is to uphold the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. That means restoring the delicate balance at its heart by ensuring the protocol works for all communities.”

She defended her record in piloting the NI Protocol Bill through its early stages in the House of Commons earlier this summer.

“I have stepped up to the plate as foreign secretary to find a solution with legislation to fix the problems, and getting it through the House of Commons.

“I have stood firm in the face of the European Union’s intransigence over negotiations and remained clear in my determination to solve this situation.” she said.

While Mr Sunak, below, has pledged to open fresh negotiations with the EU over the protocol, the former chancellor added: “If negotiation with the EU doesn’t deliver what we need it to, the bill will become law.”

On possible unilateral British action to change the protocol, he said: “I would call an urgent summit with EU leaders to seek a negotiated outcome, but no option is off the table if they do not see sense and change their position.”

Mr Sunak also vowed to resist Irish nationalist pressure for a border poll on Northern Ireland’s constitutional future, saying the position on a such a vote “is clearly established in both international law and domestic law via the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and the Northern Ireland Act 1998”.

Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionist Party leader has said that “dealing with the protocol and the cost of living crisis should be among the new prime minister’s top priorities”.

Doug Beattie MLA said: “With both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss coming to Northern Ireland on Wednesday for a Conservative Party leadership hustings event, it would be an opportune moment for both candidates to set out their stall on exactly how they are going to proceed in the weeks ahead to deal with the protocol.

“The protocol has only played a small part of the policy discussions so far, but it will be one of the most important issues for an incoming prime minister because its impact is so far reaching in Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom’s future relations with our neighbours.

“Neither can the EU be allowed to prevaricate any longer. Northern Ireland cannot afford to have more months of endless diplomatic whataboutery. Both the EU and the UK government need to get back to the negotiating table as a matter of urgency. If they don’t then we would expect the UK government to act.

“The protocol needs dealt with once and for all because it continues to damage the Belfast Agreement and places a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

“The alternatives and solutions are there for all to see and have been since 2019 when we published our first paper.

“The Ulster Unionist Party proposals also formed part of the UK government’s Command Paper published in July 2021 and the Protocol Bill which has passed through the House of Commons.”

• Liz Truss: Urgent problems with the NI Protocol cannot be allowed to drift

• Rishi Sunak: NI Protocol Bill will become law if EU doesn’t deliver

• Editorial: Rishi Sunak gives stronger answers on NI Protocol than Liz Truss does