Congress Concern at British Government Brexit Threats

Rep. Richard Neal, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, again reiterated the opinion that no Trade Deal with Britain would be possible if the Good Friday Peace Agreement was undermined by Brexit or the actions of the British Government. Previously Rep. Neal had raised his concerns directly with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

The Government of Boris Johnson continues to threaten to suspend their agreement with the EU that prevents a hard border across Ireland. This agreement, known as the Irish Protocol only came into effect at the beginning of the year. This week a former senior British Government advisor revealed that Boris Johnston never had any intention of honoring their side of the deal. 

Speaking to the Irish Times Rep. Neal said, “ If the argument is that you can just unilaterally abridge an agreement, it doesn’t strike me as being a very solid remedy for future trade agreements or trade partnerships,”

Rep. Neal criticized the duplicity of the approach of the British government as undermining their standing internationally and ultimately being self-defeating.

Using the example of recent US trade talks he said, 

“If we had gone into that negotiation by saying: ‘Well don’t worry about it; we will just not adhere to the parts of it we don’t like after we have agreed to it,’ I don’t think there would be many people in the world that would be interested in having a trade agreement with us,” 

Rep. Neal has consistently advised the British Government to honor their agreements in full.