Northern Ireland Protocol: Rishi Sunak has put government bill 'on ice' to allow space for deal with EU

Senior UK officials have said the bill will not return to the Lords this year, giving negotiators time to thrash out a new deal in time for St Valentine’s Day.The government bill is designed to create legislation which would empower the UK to unilaterally suspend aspects of the protocol, including excessive border checks, if there is no deal with Brussels.Senior officials say it has been put back to avoid disrupting talks because they believe the EU will make concessions.US President Joe Biden warned both Sunak and Liz Truss that he wanted to see the matter resolved before the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, in April. Plans for a Biden state visit to tie in with the anniversary depend on a deal being completed.

However, Downing Street denied the bill had been halted.

A senior government official told the Sunday Times: “To give room to the negotiations we are not asking for the whips to bring it back to the Lords now. We want to give negotiations the best chance. Public discussions of amendments would not be helpful at this stage. We’ll let the team try the negotiations with Brussels first. If that doesn’t work, we’ll do the bill with the Lords.”Under a timeline circulating in Whitehall, the EU would accept the need for text changes over the next two weeks. The two sides would then work flat-out over Christmas to prepare for a month of formal negotiations in January.If all goes well, a draft deal could then be presented to the other key players in the first two weeks of February. The EU would have to secure member states’ support while the UK would need to square things with hard-line Tories and the DUP.Downing Street is adamant Sunak will only do a deal he thinks is right: “We want to have constructive talks, but we will walk away if the agreement is not good enough.”A government spokesman said: “The bill has not been paused. It will continue its passage through the Lords in the new year.”