British Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on Tuesday expressed concerns over the European Union’s inflexible attitude for renegotiations on Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit agreement, and warned that it was not a deal that is going to last forever.
“A deal is a deal but it wasn’t something that was going to last forever,” Kwarteng told Sky. “It was something that was flexible and we want to make it work more smoothly.”
The secretary further said: “Article 16 … it is something that we could do, to suspend it, we’ve chosen not to do that, that’s not our opening position and we want to be able to negotiate and have a conversation with the EU about how best to go forward.”
Britain on Wednesday expressed its willingness to suspend the part of its Brexit divorce accord with Brussels unless the EU agrees to overhaul of trading rules for Northern Ireland.
The UK seeks elimination of most of the checks on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland that are mandated under the protocol.
However, the EU immediately rejected the call, saying Britain should respect the deal and highlighted that it had been negotiated by incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The protocol was a key part of the Brexit settlement, backed by Johnson, that finally sealed Britain’s divorce from the EU four years after voters backed leaving in a referendum.
However, business community in Northern Ireland are of the view that protocol is damaging trade and feared return of violence to the province.
Read more: https://pakobserver.net/britain-and-brussels-clash-over-40bn-brexit-divorce-bill/
