EU claims of UK silence on Northern Ireland Protocol talks are ‘total rubbish’

Britain has met Brussels’ requests for talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol with “radio silence” since February, the EU’s negotiator said on Thursday in comments dismissed as “total rubbish”.

Government sources said talks with the EU were like “negotiating with a brick wall” as they denied the accusation, saying Maros Sefcovic had spoken to Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, in early March.

Mr Sefcovic, the European Commission vice president, warned that British legislation to tear up parts of the protocol risked undermining Western unity in the face of Russian aggression because it would break international law.

“We face the same global challenges, not least in responding to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” he said in a speech to the EU-UK Forum. “This relationship must therefore be based on full respect for the legally binding commitments that we have made to one other.

“It was therefore with significant concern that we took note of the UK Government’s decision to table legislation disapplying core elements of the protocol.

“It has created deep uncertainty and cast a shadow over our overall cooperation at a time when respect for international agreements has never been more important.”

Mr Sefcovic said “this was done despite our offer to return to the discussion table and seek joint solution, which has been met by radio silence from the UK since February”.

But a government source told The Telegraph: “Total rubbish. Our preference is for a negotiated solution – but we need to see a willingness from the EU to change the protocol itself. Otherwise we’re just negotiating against a brick wall, as we have been tirelessly for 18 months.

“The truth is we’ve negotiated hard and in good faith, but the simple fact is that the EU remains unwilling to change the protocol, even though it is plainly undermining the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. So we have to act.”

Mr Sefcovic and Ms Truss spoke in early March, but negotiations have been becalmed since then.

Sources denied that the war in Ukraine had prevented talks, but conceded that the purdah period ahead of the May 5 elections in Northern Ireland had stopped substantive negotiations for a time.

“As fellow democracies, we see the European Union as an essential partner,” Michael Ellis, the Paymaster General and minister for the Cabinet Office, told the event.

“Nowhere is that clearer than in the work we’re doing to support Ukraine. Through the G7, the UK and EU are in lockstep in introducing the most comprehensive and onerous economic sanctions that Russia has ever faced. It makes no sense to allow our differences over Northern Ireland to put this at risk.”