The Tánaiste has urged two of the UKs highest ranking officials to ‘consider their oaths’ amid ongoing controversy over Westminster’s plan to row back on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
It comes after a UK Cabinet minister admitted that new legislation, undermining the Northern Ireland protocol, would break international law “in a very specific and limited way.”
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said it was an “extraordinary statement from a Cabinet member in a respected liberal democracy.”
“You either adhere to the rule of law or you don’t and you either respect international treaties or you don’t,” he said. “There is no middle way.”
“To me, Britain is a country that has always been an honourable country. It is inhabited by very honest people, it is the country of the Magna Carta, of the rule of law, of Parliamentary democracy.
“It is not a rogue state and to behave in this way is pretty extraordinary.”
He said the move was ‘constitutionally reckless’ and said two of the UK’s highest-ranking officers should consider their oaths.
“Both the Attorney General in the UK and the Lord Chancellor have professional reputations,” he said. “They take a particular oath of office and they need to consider that.”
The Taoiseach Micheal Martin at biotech research firm APC in Cherrywood, Dublin, 04-09-2020. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNewsThe Government this morning launched its new Brexit Readiness Plan in Dublin - outlining a broad range of changes that will occur in less than four months’ time, regardless of what happens with Brexit.
Speaking at the launch this morning, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said EU/UK trade talks can only continue if both sides can trust each other.
“It is important to say that meaningful negotiations can only proceed on the basis of mutual trust,” he said.
“Unilateral actions which seek to change the operation of measures already agreed, included in an international treaty and incorporated into domestic law do not build trust.”
He said he will raise his concerns with the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson later today.
“We are extremely concerned about the unilateral nature of the British Government’s action and decision which has the capacity to undermine progress in the negotiations,” he said.
“Both the timing of this initiative and the unilateral nature of this decision does not build trust and I will be speaking later this afternoon with the British prime minister to register our very strong concerns.”
"Gamesmanship"
Minister Varadkar said he hoped the UK strategy was simply an attempt at “gamesmanship” as negotiations on a future trade deal with the EU continue.
“The Government in Britain a year ago showed its ability to play hardball; to go kamikaze in order to help secure the Withdrawal Agreement, which I was part of negotiating,” he said.
“It might just be another manifestation of that. I hope that is what it is but I think, as a strategy, it has actually backfired quite badly on them.
“You can see the Northern Ireland parties or at least the parties that represent the majority of people in Northern Ireland taking a very dim view of this, the European Union saying very clearly that there will be no free trade agreement if the UK does not honour its existing agreements, including the Withdrawal Agreement, and you can see the reaction from the US congress and Irish America, saying there will be no US/UK trade deal if you go down this path.
“Other countries looking at concluding treaties and agreements with the UK must be thinking the same thing.
“You could agree a treaty with them this year and somebody might stand up in parliament and say, ‘we just don’t like that. That is not how multilateralism works and it is not how the 21st Century works in terms of modern democracies and I think they made a mistake.”
Brexit Readiness Plan
The Tánaiste said the Brexit Readiness Plan includes a range of actions that citizens, businesses and consumers must take before the UK leaves.
He noted that “political Brexit” already happened at the beginning of January but warned that “economic Brexit” does not happen until New Years’ Day 2021.
“Whether there is a free trade agreement or not, the UK will be leaving the single market, will be leaving the customs union and things will be different,” he said.
“It won’t be business as usual so really what this is all about is helping to prepare business, citizens, consumers and the transport industry for those changes.”
