Boris Johnson is this week expected to sign off plans for a law to unilaterally scrap parts of the UK’s Brexit deal, in spite of warnings it could collapse talks with Brussels and spark a trade war with the EU.
The prime minister’s allies tried on Sunday to calm tensions, insisting the plan to rewrite parts of the Northern Ireland protocol was only “an insurance policy” in case talks with the EU on improving its operation failed.
But Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, told Sky News: “There’s no way the EU can compromise if the UK is threatening unilateral action to pass domestic legislation to set aside international obligations.”