EU urges Commons to reject 'illegal' rewriting of protocol

Brussels urged Westminster yesterday to throw out Boris Johnson's "illegal" attempt to unilaterally rewrite the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland as the EU began fresh legal action against the UK.

- Daniel Boffey

Maroš Šefčovič, the EU's Brexit commissioner, said he expected MPs to make the case for negotiation over conflict as he relaunched a frozen case for past breaches of the Brexit deal and started two new claims over undelivered treaty obligations. "Let's call a spade a spade: this is illegal," he said of the prime minister's plans.

The EU's action means the UK will need to justify its past failures to check imports from Great Britain to Northern Ireland within two months, or face potentially huge fines from the European court of justice. Letters of formal notice of action will also be sent over the past failures to establish border posts and share data.

However, Brussels held back on targeted action over the new legislation tabled on Monday - which proposes rewriting the Northern Ireland protocol - until it becomes law, which could take 18 months or longer.

Šefčovič suggested suspending parts of the trade deal, at a potentially heavy cost to British consumers and industry, could not be ruled out but he used a press conference in Brussels to appeal to MPs and peers to stop the government from trashing the UK's reputation and provoking a trade war.

"We are now bringing the argument also into the debate, which I'm sure will be in the House of Commons and House of Lords, that there is a better way to solve these issues than having these legal disputes with the EU," he said.