Dispute over Northern Ireland protocol intensifies

Row threatens to spark trade war with the EU as talks falter

- ANDREW WOODCOCK

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator has warned that Brussels will not give in to threats or blackmail, as the furious row over the Northern Irish border took a step closer towards sparking a trade war. Maros Sefcovic in effect accused Boris Johnson of lying about the consequences of EU withdrawal, declaring that it was time for “honesty” about the problems created by the form of hard Brexit chosen by the UK government.

Insisting that the 27-nation bloc was united in rejecting British demands to rewrite the controversial Northern Ireland protocol, he sent a stark message to London: “We in the EU never work with threats, we never work with blackmail, we try to work with constructive engagement and that is what I am pleading for."

The European Commission vice-president was speaking after Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, told him that Britain would have "no choice” but to take unilateral action unless Brussels submitted to its demand for fresh concessions on the protocol, which has effectively created a customs border between Northern Ireland and the British mainland.

Her comments in crunch phone talks with Mr Sefcovic set the scene for the publication within days of legislation to override the protocol, which was signed by Mr Johnson in 2020 with the aim of keeping the Irish border open after Brexit. Voicing her “regret” at the EU's rejection of British demands to revise Mr Sefcovic's negotiating mandate, the foreign secretary said that “if the EU would not show the requisite flexibility to help solve those issues, then as a responsible government we would have no choice but to act”.