Britain’s plan to tear up Brexit deal ‘politically driven’, says top EU official

EU did not used to expect UK to break international law, says Commission vice-president

Boris Johnson’s plans to unilaterally scrap parts of the Brexit deal are “politically driven” and “very damaging” to Britain’s relationship with the European Union, the European Commission vice-president has warned.

Maros Sefcovic said the EU was not “here for political point scoring” after Brussels launched fresh legal action against the UK in retaliation to the government’s proposed Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which will effectively rip up key parts of the deal signed by Mr Johnson and the EU in 2019.

Mr Sefcovic told Sky News: “I cannot resist the impression that the tabling of the bill is politically driven, but it’s not our role to comment on internal politics in the UK and therefore our doors for the negotiations will always be open.

“We are here for the results, not political point scoring ... We are in a fixing business, but I am afraid to say what was tabled on Monday is very much nixing.”

In the deal, both sides agreed to checks on goods, plant and animal products crossing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in order to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

Sefcovic says ‘all options are on table’ for EU retaliation (EPA)

Mr Johnson’s government has complained that the new regulations have harmed business in Northern Ireland but the prime minister is also under pressure from the Democratic Unionist Party, which refuses to re-enter powersharing with Sinn Fein while the protocol remains in place, effectively leaving the province without leadership.

The UK has insisted that its unilateral approach is the only option left to resolve the issues “baked in” to the protocol if the EU maintains its refusal to fundamentally rewrite the terms of the deal.

Brussels has warned Britain there will be consequences for reneging and Mr Sefcovic on Thursday declined to rule out a trade war, saying: “We have to keep all options on the table.”

While he praised “remarkable” EU-UK co-operation on Ukraine and other global challenges, he said it was a “pity that we have to spend so much time” discussing Brexit issues “when we need to build and consolidate this western unity”.

Mr Sefcovic added: “What is indeed very damaging for our relationship is this constant breaching of the international law, and that’s something what we’ve been not used to from the UK.”