'Cannot go on as we are': UK proposes new 'approach' to post-Brexit trade deal with EU

In a move to change the post-Brexit trade rules that were agreed and signed after several months of gruelling negotiations, the British government on July 21 proposed a new “approach” and said that it “cannot go on” with the terms previously negotiated with the European Union (EU). What is expected to further strain an already tense relationship between the UK and the EU, the British government said that Britain would be justified in unilaterally suspending the legally binding Brexit agreement but has decided against that as of now. 

The UK has reportedly demanded a “standstill period” to freeze the Northern Ireland protocol and to end oversight by EU courts. As per The Independent report, UK’s Brexit minister David Frost blamed the EU intransigence for the “burden” of Irish Sea trade checks and the “febrile political climate” in Northern Ireland – which had led to “disorder”. Britain expressed its wish to “maintain grace periods” that would avoid any checks in the autumn and halt the “existing legal actions” by the 27-nation-bloc which has already accused London of failing to comply with the post-Brexit trade agreement. 

As per the report, Frost’s remarks were met with gasps in the UK Parliament’s upper chamber, House of Lords with the Brexit minister also insisting that the Protocol “must no longer be policed by EU institutions and courts of justice” which is also a crucial aspect of the 2019 deal. Frost told parliament, “These burdens will worsen, not improve, over time as grace periods expire” warning that leaving businesses and society would be left in a more challenging situation. He insisted, “Putting it simply, we cannot go on as we are.”

Northern Ireland trade and UK-EU tensions

Since the UK left the decades-old economic embrace of the 27-nation-bloc formally at the end of 2020, the relations between both sides have escalated especially concerning the trade arrangements for Northern Ireland. After Brexit, Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK which shares a land border with the bloc. However, according to the post-Brexit deal agreed between London and Brussels, customs and border checks must be conducted on some goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. 

While the regulations were kept intact in order to practice an open border between Northern Ireland and the EU member Ireland, the rules have made British unionists reportedly angry as according to them, the regulations amount to a border in the Irish Sea and weakens the ties with rest of the UK. Britain has already been accused by the EU of taking a “purist” approach to the rules.

IMAGE: AP