The Left in the European Parliament condemns Prime Minister Johnson’s announcement of plans to ditch the post-Brexit Protocol deal agreed with the EU in 2019.

Left MEP Chris Mac Manus (Sinn Féin, Ireland) commented following a briefing with European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels:

“This is a dangerous move by the British government. In pandering to the Democratic Unionist Party on the Protocol, the British government are engaged in a proxy war on the Good Friday Agreement. As is so often the case, Ireland is once again being used as part of internal power struggles in the Tory Party.

“The unfortunate reality is that while Ireland is partitioned, there are always going to be difficulties in the relationship between Britain and the EU. But people and businesses in the North should not be the ones to suffer.”

Throughout the Brexit negotiations, The Left emphasised the importance of safeguarding the Good Friday peace agreement and respecting the commitments made in the Protocol.

Speaking from the Geneva, where the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation is meeting, Helmut Scholz MEP (Die Linke, Germany) said:

“The British government will quickly discover that international trade is based on rules, and the currency is trust. If they insist that international law is subject to the whims of a majority in the governing party in Westminster then they will soon find out that their signature on trade agreements is not worth very much.”

Image credit: Eric Jones