As Boris Johnson heads to Northern Ireland for emergency talks with political leaders, all eyes fall once again on the agreement he signed and hailed as a great victory but which he now decries. The Northern Ireland Protocol exists because both the UK and EU agreed there could be no return to a hard border — including physical checks and infrastructure — on the island of Ireland. This left two options: a UK-wide arrangement, rejected by Brexiteers, or checks in the Irish Sea, formalised by the protocol.
Some parts of the arrangement, such as on medicines, have been reformed. But others are undoubtedly causing issues — the biggest of which are political. The DUP, the largest unionist party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, is refusing to take part in an executive unless its complaints about the protocol are addressed. That foments political instability, jeopardises the power-sharing fundamental to the Good Friday Agreement and means the people of Northern Ireland do not have a functioning devolved government.
