Threat of EU punishment if NI agreement torn up must be taken seriously by UK, former top diplomat tells LBC

20 September 2022, 18:41 | Updated: 21 September 2022, 00:58

Lord Kim Darroch fears 'trade war' if Westminster tears up NI protocol

Britain must take the threat of EU trade punishment "seriously" if it chooses to tear up the Northern Ireland protocol and impose unilateral changes, a former top diplomat has told LBC.

Lord Kim Darroch, who served as UK ambassador to the US as well as permanent representative to the EU and national security adviser, said the possibility of retaliation from the EU in the form of trade penalties should "absolutely" be taken seriously.

"The EU will respond," he told Tonight with Andrew Marr.

"They will try to find a negotiated solution, I've got a lot of evidence for that.

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"But I know that they are preparing trade measures should they need them.

"So there is a genuine risk of a trade war at a time when we are under huge economic pressure anyway."

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Liz Truss has today travelled to the US to hold talks with US President Joe Biden ahead of a UN summit.

The two have had a strained relationship over her plans to rip up post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland.

On Tuesday night the White House said Mr Biden would tell Ms Truss she needed to work with the EU to negotiate an outcome to solve the problem.

Ms Truss's official spokesman said on Tuesday that the protocol is an issue "we want to resolve this with the EU".

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Lord Darroch said the situation the UK and EU have found themselves in was "always going to happen". The Northern Ireland Protocol, which governs trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to ensure goods do not need to be checked at the politically-sensitive border with the Republic of Ireland.

But it has angered unionists, who say it affects their place within the UK, while the Government has pledged to tackle it, leading to concern in Brussels about it taking unilateral action if a negotiated settlement can't be reached.

"What has happened in terms of the restrictions and checks on trade crossing the Irish Sea, was always going to happen if the government chose to... put the border, the external border to EU, in the middle of the Irish Sea," he said.

"So this is all both predictable and predictive.

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"And it was always inevitable and a lot of people who were concerned with the Northern Ireland negotiations, with the Good Friday Agreement, said this would happen, said it would upset Unionists... so we are where we predicted to be.

"It's turning out badly, I'm afraid, but in the way that we expected it to turn out."

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However Lord Darroch said there was hope of finding a solution because of the government's focus on growth.

"The EU, as you know... say that they can find a way through on these issues that will remove 80 per cent of the checks that are taking place," he said, when asked whether Prime Minister Liz Truss might be forced to "change her position" because of her growth-focussed agenda.

"That sounds to me quite a lot.

"That sounds to me like the basis for negotiation.

"So let's hope they let the government engage with them and find a way forward."

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Lord Darroch resigned from his post as British ambassador to the United States after confidential memos he sent back to London, criticising Donald Trump's administration, were leaked.

In the memos he called Mr Trump "inept", "insecure" and "incompetent", and warned London that Mr Trump's White House was "uniquely dysfunctional".

Boris Johnson, running to be Prime Minister at the time, refused to say whether he would keep Lord Darroch on in a televised leadership debate.

Lord Darroch has since said Mr Johnson's failure to back him was "in part" to blame for his resignation.