A clip of Boris Johnson promising there would be no checks on good going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland under his Brexit deal has been doing the rounds on social media after it was shared by lawyer Peter Stefanovic.
Relations between the EU and UK turned sour yesterday after negotiating parties failed to reach an agreement on goods moving between the two countries.
The EU has threatened to launch a trade war against Britain if it fails to implement checks on goods entering Northern Ireland under the terms of the Brexit “divorce” settlement.
In a press conference after his meeting with Lord Frost, Maros Sefcovic insisted the bloc has shown “enormous patience” in the face of “numerous and fundamental gaps” in the UK’s compliance with the agreement.
He said that any further backtracking will be met with a resolute response.
“Of course, as you would understand, the fact that I mentioned that we are at a crossroads means that our patience really is wearing very, very thin, and therefore we have to assess all options we have at our disposal,” he said.
“I was talking about the legal action, I was talking about arbitration, and of course I’m talking about the cross-retaliation.”
A clip of prime minister Boris Johnson refuting claims that there would be checks on goods has been doing the rounds on social media in the wake of the stalled negotiations.
Speaking to Sky News presenter Sophy Ridge, the PM resolutely confirmed there will not be checks, much to the bemusement of Ridge.
“So you’re saying that this document is wrong, the Government’s own Impact Assessment is wrong, your Brexit Secretary is wrong, all these people are wrong and you’re right?”
Johnson replied: “Yes because there’s no question of there being checks on goods going NI to GB or GB to NI.”
Today Joe Biden will tell Boris Johnson not to let the row over Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements put the Good Friday Agreement at risk when the pair meet.
In the US president’s first overseas visit, aides said he will stress the need to “stand behind” the Northern Ireland Protocol, the element of the Brexit deal which has triggered a UK-EU dispute.
The issue has threatened to overshadow the Prime Minister’s first meeting with the president and his hosting of the G7 summit, which begins on Friday in Cornwall.
The Times reported that the president – who is intensely proud of his Irish roots – took the extraordinary step of ordering the United States’ most senior diplomat in London, Yael Lempert, to deliver a demarche – a formal protest – in a meeting with Brexit minister Lord Frost on June 3.
Government minutes of the meeting said: “Lempert implied that the UK had been inflaming the rhetoric, by asking if he would keep it ‘cool’.”
