Truss Should Not Negotiate With EU

Ben Habib writes his weekly 'State of the Union' column.

The EU and Maros Sefcovic, its Chief Negotiator over the Northern Ireland Protocol, are duplicitous. Their word cannot be trusted and their intention towards the UK is malign.

Last week they said no negotiations could take place with the UK for as long as Ms Truss insisted on her Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. They described her Bill, which merely seeks to bring Northern Ireland back into our own country, as a loaded gun.

This week they are suggesting checks across the Irish Sea could take place invisibly without any disruption to the UK’s internal market. All they would need is constructive dialogue over the UK providing them seamless information on shipments.  

So which is it? Constructive dialogue or guns at dawn?

At the same time the EU is threatening legal actions and fines if Truss does not relent.

Of course, the only thing they offer is hostility. They want their gaff dug deep into our carcass. It matters not to them if we are ripped apart. Indeed, they would rather like the UK’s head on a spike. It would be an example to the many states continuing to suffer as members in their wretched union.  

It cannot be lost on Sefcovic that, if invisible checks are capable of being instituted in the Irish Sea, they are also equally capable of being implemented at the actual border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. There is no need for the Protocol.

The reality is Sefcovic wants the hardest of borders in the Irish Sea. He wants to break our country. He thinks we are weak and we will succumb.

Liz Truss should not negotiate with him. She should take the strongest of lines. She has a massive majority in Parliament. It should be used unilaterally to deliver Northern Ireland out of the Protocol.

Use it or lose – both the majority and Northern Ireland.