UK Government ‘ran election campaign’ on Brexit deal they are ‘now trying to break’ says Welsh MP

The UK Government “ran an election campaign” on their Brexit deal but are now claim they “did not understand” it and are “trying to break it,” a Welsh Labour MP has said.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Stephen Doughty, who is Shadow Foreign Office minister, was responding to the UK Government’s statement that they would seek to change the Northern Ireland protocol.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced the Government’s intention to introduce legislation “in the coming weeks to make changes in the protocol”.

But Cardiff South and Penarth MP Stephen Doughty said that the UK Government negotiated the deal and now needed to take responsibility for it.

The UK Government was “trying to convince people its flagship achievement was not a negotiating triumph but a deal so flawed that they cannot abide by it”.

He added: “Either they did not understand their own agreement, they were not upfront about the reality of it or they intended to break it all along. The Prime Minister negotiated this deal, signed it, ran an election campaign on it. He must take responsibility for it and make it work.”

Mr Doughty said that “both the UK Government and the EU need to show willing and good faith”, telling the Commons: “This is not a time for political posturing or high stakes brinkmanship.”

‘Not negatively impacted’

The UK Government remains “open” to a “negotiated solution” but the “urgency” of the situation means “we can’t afford to delay any longer”, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.

The Foreign Secretary said: “The Bill will contain an explicit power to give effect to a new revised protocol if we can reach an accommodation that meets our goal of protecting the Belfast Good Friday agreement.

“We remain open to a negotiated solution but the urgency of the situation means we can’t afford to delay any longer. The UK has clear responsibilities as the sovereign government of Northern Ireland to ensure parity of esteem and the protection of economic rights.

“We are clear that the EU will not be negatively impacted in any way just as we have ensured the protection of the EU single market since the existence of the protocol. We must restore the primacy of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement in all of its dimensions as the basis of the restoration of the executive.

“We will do so through technical measures designed to achieve the stated objectives of the protocol, tailored to the reality of Northern Ireland.”