Ireland deputy leader warns countries against agreements with UK

Ireland’s deputy premier has said other countries should not enter agreements with the UK unless they are certain Westminster will keep to their promises.

Yesterday Brexit minister Lord Frost said the European Union would be making a “historic misjudgement” if it wasn’t prepared to make major changes to the Protocol, ahead of the EU’s announcement on their plans, scheduled for Wednesday evening.

The deal was negotiated in October 2019 and agreed to in December 2020.

The Protocol was implemented to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the wake of Brexit by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods.

In an interview with RTE’s Morning Ireland program today, Leo Varadkar responded to comments made by Dominic Cummings that suggest the government had always intended to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Varadkar explained: “I saw those comments; I hope Dominic Cummings is speaking for himself and not for the British Government” he went on: “But those comments are very alarming because that would indicate that this is a government, an administration, that acted in bad faith and that message needs to be heard around the world.

“If the British Government doesn’t honour its agreements, it doesn’t adhere to treaties it signs, that must apply to everyone else too.

“At the moment they’re going around the world, they’re trying to negotiate new trade agreements… Surely the message must go out to all countries around the world that this is a British Government that doesn’t necessarily keep its word and doesn’t necessarily honour the agreements it makes.

“And you shouldn’t make any agreements with them until such time as you’re confident that they keep their promises, and honour things, for example, like the protocol.”