Brexit agreement is a clean break from problems of recent past
IN 2016, when David Cameron returned from Brussels with an unacceptable agreement for a new relationship with the EU, I was among the first in my party to sign up to a letter saying that leaving the European Union was our best bet for a prosperous future.
At the time I was advised that flying my Brexiteer colours so publicly would be political suicide.
But now, as Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, I am certain that the direction we took in 2016 gave us the greatest chance at self-determination and realising true sovereignty.
Last year I was tasked with building a better relationship with the EU and with tackling the problems of the Northern Irish Protocol.
Since our departure from the EU in January 2020, it is a relationship that has not worked as well as it should have.
Inevitably, due to the different starting positions of the EU and UK negotiating teams, these talks have been tricky.
But they were always held with a mutual understanding that we must protect the Good Friday Agreement.
Our priorities from the outset were ensuring the rights and opportunities of the Northern Irish people, preserving the Union and safeguarding the single market.
Big step forward
At the start of my talks with Maros Sefcovic, the EU Commission’s chief negotiator, many outside observers assumed we were discussing red lanes and green lanes, dotting I’s and crossing T’s.
But what we were actually doing was trying to start afresh, to find a way forward that wasn’t burdened by the baggage of the past.
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This reset was a mutual recognition that previous conversations over the protocol didn’t make any progress, and that a fresh approach was needed.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister laid out the major achievements of this ground-breaking new deal. It restores smooth-flowing trade within the whole of the UK and by doing so protects Northern Ireland’s place in the Union.
Goods destined for Northern Ireland will travel via green lanes, with a separate red lane for goods at risk of moving into the EU.
Red tape on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain has been cut.
This will protect and promote the interests of real people and real businesses in Northern Ireland and across the UK.
Supermarkets, restaurants and food wholesalers will no longer need hundreds of certificates to send their produce from one shore to another, removing the sense of a border in the Irish Sea.
In addition to these game-changing realignments, we have agreed to amend the legal text of the protocol to ensure we can make critical VAT and custom excise changes.
This means that our reforms to cut the price of a pint in a British pub will now apply to Northern Ireland. The PM’s deal also includes a landmark settlement on medicines.
Drugs approved by UK regulators will continue to be readily available in Northern Irish hospitals and pharmacies.
People can now bring their pets with them across the Irish Sea, and English plants can be stocked in Northern Ireland’s garden centres.
These things matter to people — and that’s why we wanted them resolved.
Perhaps the most important outcome of this fresh settlement with our European partners is the empowerment of the Stormont Assembly.
The deal provides that Assembly, which was created to protect the Good Friday Agreement, has not only a say on new and changed EU law but a veto.
This is a turning point for the people of Northern Ireland.
It is also a big step forward for our relations with our European friends. And it is a clean break from a problematic recent past.
The veteran American politician and accomplished negotiator Henry Kissinger once said that it is a “mistake of amateurs to believe that you can gain the upper hand in a diplomatic negotiation”. The art of any deal requires compromise.
We began these talks knowing full well that we had to try to get what everyone needed while remaining aware that we could not give anyone everything they wanted.
I am proud that we have actually been able to do more than that.
We were able to secure what everyone needs but also gain much of what we and our friends in Europe want.
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Under the inspiring leadership of the Prime Minister, our teams, including the Northern Ireland Secretary, have worked flat out to reach this big moment for Northern Ireland.
Now that I know the outcome, it has been worth every single minute.
