Greens call on government to match EU food and farming standards to end Northern Ireland Protocol conflict
21 July 2021
- Party repeats call for return to Customs Union
The Green Party has rejected Lord Frost’s proposals to seek a major renegotiation of the Brexit deal he and Boris Johnson signed up to just 18 months ago, and on the basis of which they won the 2019 general election.
Molly Scott Cato, Green Party economics spokesperson and former MEP, said:
“If the Northern Ireland protocol is unworkable then it is down to the people who negotiated it on behalf of the UK – Boris Johnson and his chief negotiator Lord Frost.
“There is a simple solution here which could massively reduce the bureaucracy at the border. The government should open negotiations to agree a comprehensive treaty to guarantee that we will maintain high, EU standards of animal and food safety, reducing the need for many checks.
“The Green Party also supports the UK rejoining the customs union, which would go even further to ease the need for border checks at the Irish border as well as reducing the burden of paperwork for UK businesses that export to the EU.
“It’s clear that the Prime Minister never intended to keep the deal he agreed with the EU. He signed up to the protocol as a political convenience to ensure he won an election and gained power for himself.
“He has repeatedly demonstrated recklessness over the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland in spite of the warnings of former prime ministers and those who negotiated the Good Friday Agreement.
“Trying to change the international treaty we agreed just 18 months ago portrays ‘Global Britain’ as a country that cannot be trusted and diminishes our international reputation that is so vital both in negotiating trade deals and achieving a successful outcome from the Glasgow climate talks.”
ENDS
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