Former government lawyer dismisses UK argument over Northern Ireland Protocol

‘Remains to be seen’ whether plans compatible with international law

(Getty Images)

A former government lawyer has dismissed an expected legal justification from UK ministers over plans to override plans to override the Northern Ireland Protocol – a key part of the Brexit treaty.

It comes as Boris Johnson prepares to table contentious legislation on the Protocol, which governs trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as soon as next week, despite warnings of a trade war.

Boris Johnson has previously insisted the move would not flout international law, saying the “higher duty of the UK government in international law is to the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process”.

Foreign secretary Liz Truss has also argued the 1998 agreement is being undermined by east-west trade being “damaged by the existence customs bureaucracy” and checks in the Irish Sea.

But Sir Jonathan Jones, who quit the government in 2020 over plans to overwrite parts of the Brexit agreement, said it “remains to be seen” whether the plans are compatible with international law.

Pressed on whether a potential “legal justification” for overriding the Protocol could be preventing the Good Friday Agreement being undermined, Mr Jones said: “I’ve heard and seen that as a possible argument.

“We have to wait and see what the government says. I think it’s likely to be problematic that argument because after all the government knew about the Good Friday Agreement when it entered into withdrawal agreement, including the Protocol.

“It has since argued in litigation in the Northern Ireland courts that the Protocol was deliberately and carefully designed so as to protect the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement.

“It’s difficult to see having argued that on the one hand, but then arguing the Protocol has to change,” he said.

The former permanent secretary of the government’s legal department, added: “If the argument is the EU side is failing to properly to implement the agreement… that would give rise to different remedies for the UK, but it would not be a justification for the UK itself, unilaterally, to rewrite whole swathes of the Protocol.”

There were expectations the government would publish a BIll containing the controversial plans to unilaterally scrap aspects of the Protocol this week, but reports have emerged over cabinet tensions over the issue.

According to the Financial Times, some cabinet ministers have demanded an assurance the proposals do no flout international law.

On Thursday, the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also accused the prime minister of taking a “wrecking ball” to relationships with Ireland and the EU.

On a visit to Trinity College in Dublin city, Sir Keir said: “As someone who cares deeply about the relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom, I’m concerned about the comments that have been made.

“Of course there are challenges with the protocol, but I think that we have faced much greater challenges than that in our shared history and I think we can deal with the remaining issues.

“We’ve faced bigger problems than this. With good faith, statecraft and trust around the negotiating table, which is what a Labour government would bring, these problems can be overcome.

“But a prime minister without those attributes taking a wrecking ball to the relationship is not going to help anybody.”