Johnson government could break up UK: Irish Deputy PM

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 Jul 2022 11:13

The Irish Deputy PM believes London is antagonizing Dublin by breaking its promise on Brexit.

Boris Johnson after signing the Brexit deal in 2020 (Getty)

London's attempt to overrule the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit deal may result in people there abandoning the union, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned.

He called Boris Johnson's government "undemocratic" and "disrespectful".

Varadkar told BBC that “what the British government is doing now is very undemocratic and very disrespectful to people in Northern Ireland because it’s taking that power away from the Assembly, and saying that British ministers can override sections of the protocol."

He was referring to a measure tabled last month in the House of Commons that aims to alter elements of the deal reached with the EU to allow the UK to exit the bloc. Due to Dublin's continued membership in the multinational union, the status of commerce between it and Northern Ireland – six counties on the island that remained part of the United Kingdom after Ireland's independence a century ago – had to be controlled through the special protocol.

“That’s what I find shocking and hard to accept. The British government wants to impose solutions on Northern Ireland that most people in Northern Ireland don’t want. We’ve had this happen twice now,” Varadkar said. “If you make a treaty and you’re an honorable country or an honorable government, you have to honor it, and you have to abide by international law. The approach they are taking is wrong.”

Varadkar also disputed comments by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss that EU ideas are "worse than the current standstill" and by Northern Ireland Secretary of State Brandon Lewis that ties with Dublin are "great".

"Well, I think once again a square is being called a circle there. In my political lifetime, I’ve never seen relations this bad,” he stated.

The Johnson administration has not been fair by prioritizing the interests of unionists in Northern Ireland over the concerns of the wider public, according to Varadkar, who called it a "strategic mistake".

“It’s a peculiar policy coming from a government that purports to want to defend the union,” he added, warning that if London continues to force policies on Northern Ireland that "a clear majority of people don't want," people would abandon the union.

Unlike goods going to Ireland, items heading for Northern Ireland from Great Britain - the island including England, Scotland, and Wales - would not be subject to customs checks and duties under the plan presently being discussed in London.