Explainer-in-brief: Liz Truss dodges the path of no return
Yesterday, Liz Truss announced her ‘intention’ to introduce legislation to override the Northern Ireland Protocol – that’s the rules which govern the border in the island of Ireland.
It wasn’t, as many speculated, a watershed moment where the government finally decided to turn their backs on the EU and go it alone – risking stability in Northern Ireland as they did.
Truss reiterated multiple times her desire to reach a negotiated outcome with the bloc. As we saw in the original negotiations for a Brexit deal, ongoing talks tend to stay at a standstill for years at a time.
Truss’ announcement yesterday came more as a warning shot of a deadline on talks rather than a hard and fast one. If the previous set of extensions are antyhing to go by, this is far from the end of the road for Northern Ireland. But as Katy Hayward wrote eloquently in this paper yesterday, the longer it drags on, the more at risk Irish peace will be.