The Northern Ireland protocol explained
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2022
⏱️ 34 minutes
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Summary
More than two years after Britain and the EU signed the Brexit withdrawal agreement, one of its stickiest points is suddenly back in the headlines again: the Northern Ireland protocol. Why are we back here again? And -- more to the point -- what exactly is the protocol?
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Guest: Oliver Wright, Policy Editor, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Back in 2019, Boris Johnson won a landslide victory based on one promise he made to the nation. |
| 0:21.0 | Let's get this thing done. We've got an oven ready deal. Put it in the microwave. |
| 0:25.6 | This deal is ready to go. You just whack it in the microwave. Gas mark. Gas mark. I don't know what I'm not very good at cooking, but getting it. |
| 0:33.6 | But on Tuesday, in the Hello Chambers of Parliament, where laws are made and treaties are ratified, for once, the opposite was happening. |
| 0:43.6 | As the government announced, it was preparing to tear up part of the oven ready deal it had signed. |
| 0:51.6 | I am announcing our intention to introduce legislation in the coming weeks to make changes in the protocol. |
| 0:58.6 | How do you feel about the Northern Ireland protocol being ripped up? |
| 1:01.6 | Well, this is a really dangerous move for the government to want to make it this state. |
| 1:09.6 | The announcement unleashed an angry response, not least, from the Tory back benches. |
| 1:17.6 | Respect for the rule of law, Mr Speaker, runs deep in our Tory veins. |
| 1:22.6 | I find it extraordinary that a Tory government needs to be reminded of that. |
| 1:27.6 | Well, we fully respect the rule of law and we're very clear that this bill is in line with international law. |
| 1:36.6 | As Boris Johnson flew into Belfast this week to sell his new plan, it met with a very mixed response. |
| 1:46.6 | We've had a very frustrating meeting with the Prime Minister. |
| 1:50.6 | It's a reckless course of action. |
| 1:52.6 | It is a question of the government doing the right thing. |
| 1:55.6 | It cannot do is sit for another six months talking about the very same issue that an Irish border that is not required and is not wanted and is not needed in any shape before. |
| 2:08.6 | The Brexit that Boris Johnson chose ripped up the constitutional canvas that we have created from the Good Friday Agreement. |
| 2:15.6 | This is all of his mega. |
| 2:18.6 | And now the EU is not happy and it looks like we could be on the brink of a trade war. |
| 2:25.6 | So why, more than two years after the Brexit withdrawal agreement was signed, is the Northern Ireland protocol still such a sticking point? |
| 2:35.6 | And for those of us who don't remember the debate the first time around, what exactly is it? |
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