Maximum flexibility needed in Northern Ireland Protocol says Blair

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has described the Northern Ireland Protocol as a “bad deal” and said it risks undermining the Good Friday Agreement.

Writing the foreword to a new report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Blair said both the EU and UK should “show maximum flexibility”

“There is no escaping the following: the Northern Ireland Protocol, described at the time by Boris Johnson as an “excellent deal” that resolved all the issues around Northern Ireland, was a bad deal and didn’t resolve those issues,”

“My judgement – with long experience of EU negotiations – is that things have reached such a state of distrust that the two bureaucratic systems will not settle this; it has to be done at the highest political level because, ultimately, it is not a matter of technical work but political will and leadership.”

“If left unresolved, the issues at the heart of the protocol have the capability of causing an enlarged trade conflict between the UK and the EU, or undermining the Good Friday Agreement – and quite possibly both.

“That said, in the interests of broader European harmony and trade – especially at a time when Europe, including the UK, has come together impressively over Ukraine – both the EU and the UK should show maximum flexibility in order to reach an agreement."

The report’s author Anton Spisak, a former adviser to the British government on negotiations with the EU, said a change of approach was needed to secure a deal. He stated:

“Acting unilaterally will not only put the UK in breach of its international commitments, but it will also put a halt to any serious efforts to fix the protocol for a very long time,” he said.

Meanwhile, the DUP have refused to re-enter a power-sharing government until the border arrangement is scrapped.

In an interview in the Telegraph, DUP leader Sir Jeffery Donaldson, said:

"The Protocol threatens our place in the United Kingdom, endangers jobs for our people, drives up costs for consumers and reduces choice on our shelves. We’re making progress but we need to keep moving."