Britain will not “clean up” controversial Northern Ireland Brexit Although the Democratic Unity Party once again called for the abolition of the agreement, Lord Frost, the Secretary of State for Brexit, said.
However, Frost again called for a fundamental change in its implementation and warned that unless resolved, the ongoing quarrel could have a long-term chilling effect on the broader EU-UK relationship.
“I am worried that if we do not solve this problem, there will be a cold distrust, and this distrust will continue between us and the other party. European Union, with [the mistrust] Will spread throughout the relationship [and] In a world that really requires our joint efforts, this will hinder the potential for a new era of cooperation between us,” he said at the British-Irish Association meeting in Oxford on Saturday.
The controversy over the agreement, known in some respects as the “sausage war”, broke out within a few days after Brexit took effect in January this year, and for the first time set up barriers to trade in food, plants and medicines from the United Kingdom.
But as key negotiations will resume, Lord Frost stated at the senior public figure meeting that triggering Article 16 and suspending the agreement is not his preferred option, although the “threshold” of this initiative has been “reached”.
He called on the European Union to seriously participate in the proposal for a thorough revision of the agreement published in the British government order document in July, arguing that “these proposals did not delete them. [the Northern Ireland protocol]”In fact, “reserved control of the Irish Sea for certain purposes.”
He said that society will not forgive either party if they do not perform the “small muscle exercises” needed to make the agreement work.
“When people see the price [of failure or success], And compare it to the other challenges we face in the Covid recovery and Afghanistan. If the current deadlock is not broken, people will wonder what future generations will say.
He said: “We have no interest in maintaining a tense and difficult relationship with the EU.”
Frost spoke a few hours after the Irish Prime Minister said at the same meeting that Britain’s unilateral action was doomed to fail. He believed that history shows that partnership is the only way to succeed.
Officials in London and Brussels continued to negotiate the implementation of the agreement in the summer, but senior sources said that contact was “slow” and an agreement was unlikely to be reached before September 30, indicating that the negotiations will continue into the winter.
Northern Ireland Secretary of State Brandon Lewis stated at the same meeting that the UK is advancing a plan to “upgrade” Northern Ireland, announcing that it will provide £730 million. invest Join the new Peace Plus program “to support economic stability, peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland”.
He talked about the economic achievements of the region, including the development of a huge cybersecurity department with 2,300 employees, but said that overall it is still “far below its weight”, there is an “unacceptable level of deprivation”, and There is still a lot of work to be done in terms of integration. Only 7% of children go to non-denominational schools.
