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BREAKING
Palestinian platforms: Settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque complex under the protection of the occupation police
Palestinian platforms: The IOF detonated a booby-trapped robot east of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City
Syrian Defense: We call on all parties in Sweida to cooperate with security forces and exercise restraint
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese Army is continuing its investigations and will later announce any information that does not affect the confidentiality of the investigation
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: It has not yet been determined whether the detainees belong to ISIS or another organization
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Around 10 people of different nationalities, including Lebanese nationals, were detained
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese army arrested a number of people in the Matn area of Mount Lebanon with possession it has not disclosed
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: We have strong indications that there are martyrs, injuries, and trapped people in the Salah al-Din area
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Citizens should avoid Salah al-Din Street because anyone who approaches it is at risk of being directly targeted
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Reality is that there is a very limited retreat of the vehicles, with the occupation forces providing cover undeer fire up to Salah al-Din Street

Boris Johnson: 'Difficult' to back new Northern Ireland Brexit deal

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 2 Mar 2023 19:59
4 Min Read

The former UK PM says the new deal risked keeping Northern Ireland in the EU's regulatory orbit and vowed to keep fighting for what he thinks is Brexit.

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  • Boris Johnson: 'Difficult' to back new Northern Ireland Brexit deal
    Former UK PM Boris Johnson during the Global Soft Power Summit at the QEII center in London, March 2, 2023 (Reuters)

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said he would find it "very difficult" to vote for successor Rishi Sunak's new EU deal regulating post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland.

Johnson, whose supporters accuse Sunak of betrayal for having helped force the former leader out last year, broke his silence after the breakthrough deal was announced on Monday.

"I'm going to find it very difficult to vote for something like this myself, because I believed we should've done something very different," Johnson said in a speech in London.

He indicated that "this is not about the UK taking back control," but "a version of the solution that was being offered (by the EU) last year."

Johnson considered that "this is the EU graciously unbending to allow us to do what we want to do in our own country, not by our laws, but by theirs."

He admitted in his speech that the set of trading rules, now replaced by Sunak's deal, had proved problematic. But he insisted that the better route was to maintain the now-abandoned legislation that he introduced, imposing a unilateral overhaul of the rules without EU consent, even at the risk of a trade war.

"I have no doubt at all that that (legislation) is what brought the EU to negotiate seriously," Johnson claimed.

The new "Windsor Framework" has been generally well received and is expected to win any vote in parliament with the support of the main Labour opposition.

But Sunak will be eager to secure the backing of the pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland, and, to a lesser extent, Johnson -- who retains a following among hardline Brexiteers.

The Windsor Framework reduces the influence of EU law in Northern Ireland and creates a new "green lane" for goods coming from Britain that are not intended to head to the EU's single market via Ireland.

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Johnson said it risked keeping Northern Ireland in the EU's regulatory orbit and said that doing things differently from Brussels "is the point of Brexit," vowing to keep fighting for "what I think of as Brexit."

Read more: Scale of ‘forever chemical’ pollution across UK and Europe

Britain and the EU proclaim "new chapter"

On Monday, Britain and the European Union proclaimed a "new chapter" in post-Brexit relations after securing a breakthrough deal to regulate trade in Northern Ireland.

"I believe the Windsor Framework marks a turning point for the people of Northern Ireland," Sunak told a news conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Windsor, near London.

Von der Leyen considered that the deal would allow "a stronger EU-UK relationship standing as close partners, shoulder to shoulder now and in the future."

Sunak vowed the deal would be submitted to a vote in the UK parliament "at the appropriate time, and that vote will be respected."

He said the deal dismantled a de facto customs border in the Irish Sea, both to protect the EU's single market and a hard-won peace in Northern Ireland agreed upon 25 years ago.

Shoppers in the province will no longer be deprived of goods sold in the rest of the UK and will be guaranteed the same medicines.

But to the likely anger of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party and hardline Tories, the European Court of Justice retains a role in administering the deal.

"The ECJ will have the final say on EU law and single market issues," von der Leyen noted.

Read more: 1 in every 7 Britons skipping meals, can't afford to eat: Poll

  • Britain
  • Rishi Sunak
  • Northern Ireland
  • UK
  • United Kingdom
  • Boris Johnson

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