Brexit: MP reminded PM told public this was a ‘good deal’ in brutal Burley interview

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will hold crunch talks with the vice-president of the European Commission on Thursday, as ministers consider whether to override parts of the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.

It comes as Victoria Atkins appeared on the Kay Burley show and was grilled on the deal agreed by the government.

Attorney General Suella Braverman is said to have approved the scrapping of swathes of the agreement, giving Prime Minister Boris Johnson legal cover to make the move, despite warnings from US president Joe Biden and European leaders not to single-handedly meddle with the terms.

Good Friday Agreement

On Wednesday, Mr Johnson said the Good Friday Agreement was more important than the Northern Ireland Protocol, as he dismissed suggestions of any possible escalatory response from the European Union as “crazy”.

Ms Truss is expected to tell EC vice president Maros Sefcovic on Thursday that the dispute over Northern Ireland cannot drag on.

She had warned she would “not shy away” from taking action as she accused the EU of proposing solutions that would “take us backwards”.

According to The Times, Ms Braverman had advised that legislation to override the protocol would be legally sound because of the “disproportionate and unreasonable” way it has been implemented by the EU.

“Societal unrest”

She has submitted evidence accusing the EU of undermining the Good Friday Agreement by creating a trade barrier in the Irish Sea, and warned of “societal unrest” in Northern Ireland, the newspaper said.

Burley said to Victoria Atkins MP for Louth and Horncastle: “The protocol wasn’t foisted on us, it was this Prime Minister’s idea.”

Atkins replied: “We entered those negotiations in good faith.”

Then the presenter shot back: “So it was a bad deal when he did, even though he told us it was a good deal?”