Britain’s bill to rip up the Northern Ireland protocol is a terrible idea
Changes are needed. But that calls for pragmatism, not intransigence
When the Conservatives won the 2019 general election, they did so on the promise of getting Brexit done. A withdrawal agreement with the eu soon followed. But far from being done, that deal is now being unravelled by the Tories themselves. On June 13th, the government introduced a bill that would give it powers to override large chunks of the Northern Ireland protocol. This bit of the treaty keeps the province (but not Great Britain) in the European Union’s single market for goods, ensuring that there are no border controls on the island of Ireland but creating a customs and regulatory border in the Irish Sea instead.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “The misrule of law”
Leaders June 18th 2022
- The tricky restructuring of global supply chains
- Latin America’s vicious circle is a warning to the West
- The Fed and the ECB turn on a dime
- The EU should declare Ukraine a candidate for membership
- The property industry has a huge carbon footprint. Here’s how to reduce it
- Britain’s bill to rip up the Northern Ireland protocol is a terrible idea
From the June 18th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Leaders
Sir Keir Starmer should aim higher in his reset with the EU
And he needs to be clearer about what Britain wants
To make electricity cheaper and greener, connect the world’s grids
Less than 3% of the world’s power is internationally traded—a huge wasted opportunity
Chinese AI is catching up, posing a dilemma for Donald Trump
The success of cheap Chinese models threatens America’s technological lead
America has an imperial presidency
And in Donald Trump, an imperialist president for the first time in over a century
Tariffs will harm America, not induce a manufacturing rebirth
Donald Trump’s pursuit of tariffs will make the world poorer—and America, too
How to improve clinical trials
Involving more participants can lead to new medical insights