Brexit has been a failure from day one, writes Andrew Adonis, EMUK chair.
837 days later Liz Truss has told the world that the government won’t honour the deal it signed, further trashing the UK’s reputation.
Boris Johnson’s and Liz Truss’s threats to renege on the Northern Ireland Protocol can only end in two ways. A trade war with the EU, creating an even worse cost-of-living crisis for ordinary families across the UK. Or a humiliating climb down. Or both.
At the time of the referendum, we joined former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and John Major in warning that Brexit would have a major impact on Northern Ireland and the fragile power share under the Good Friday Agreement. Because our membership of the EU was vital for the successful future of Northern Ireland.
Today’s doubling down by Boris Johnson’s government proves again that we were right.
Johnson’s Brexiteers are putting the Good Friday Agreement at risk. They are also risking Northern Ireland’s place in the EU single market, just as it begins to bring much-needed investment and jobs.
Our nation cannot afford this Brexiteer protocol posturing to push us further away from our European neighbours. We need our government to accept that hard Brexit has failed.
If the UK re-joins the single market and customs union, the Protocol will no longer be needed. Until then, the Protocol is the only way to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
The EU has offered to improve the way the Protocol works. Johnson and Truss have thrown that olive branch to the ground posturing to baying Brexit hardliners.
Sign our petition today and share it with as many people as possible to tell our government that we do not want a trade war with Europe. That the last thing our country needs is even higher prices, an even bigger cost-of-living crisis, and the breakdown of power-sharing in Northern Ireland.
The European Movement in Scotland is committed to promoting the essential European value of free speech. Consequently, we regularly publish articles by leading academics, journalists and others discussing issues germane to Scotland’s place in Europe. Such articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Movement in Scotland.
