Ireland deserves little sympathy in its response to Brexit yet gets a UK apology

There seems to be an emerging direction of travel on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

The government has repeatedly pledged to press ahead with the legislation, which is set to be debated in the House of Lords.

The bill, which seeks to overhaul the Irish Sea border, will not in fact remove the trade barrier but place it within a constitutional framework in which UK ministers have power to intervene to protect sovereignty over Northern Ireland. Most of this year, Britain-EU relations have been in deep freeze. There have been no talks with regard to the protocol, which has been appropriate in light of intransigence from Brussels.

The protocol, which was agreed by the UK under the duress of a dysfunctional parliament in 2019 which sought to thwart the public’s desire for Brexit, is not working. This happens from time to time with agreements. They are reached but then quickly are shown not to work.

Liz Truss in particular has much riding on her response to the Irish Sea border. While the originator of an overhaul of the internal UK trade border seemed to be Lord Frost, Boris Johnson was also on board — perhaps because he did not want to be the prime minister who lost the Union due to what he agreed four years ago. And Ms Truss drove it forward.

Steve Baker apologised to Ireland on Sunday which merely played up unionist fears of a retreat on the protocol bill. There was much talk yesterday in Birmingham of a deal with the EU, either already agreed (this was denied) or sought after. The recent mini budget has probably diminished the government’s ability or inclination to get into a fight with the EU.

This is all very worrying. The Irish government of Leo Varadkar in particular moved in such a green direction, and talked up the prospect of violence over the land border, that it deserves little sympathy. Most unionists have already accepted a major compromise — that the protocol will be reformed, rather than scrapped.

The bill must reach the statute books and go hand-in-hand with any deal with the EU.