Brandon Lewis admits Brexit protocol has fuelled tensions in Northern Ireland

Brandon Lewis today condemned ‘unacceptable’ riots in Northern Ireland that left 88 police injured as he warned the Brexit protocol has fuelled tensions.

The Cabinet minister said the violence over the past week was ‘tragic and deeply concerning’, while attacks on officers were ‘utterly reprehensible’.

He insisted the causes were ‘complex and multi-faceted’ – pointing to the frustrations and sense of unfairness caused by the pandemic.

But under pressure from MPs he acknowledged that the protocol Boris Johnson agreed with the EU was fuelling grievances. Loyalists have been angry at obstructions to trade with mainland Britain, with ministers struggling to strike a deal with Brussels about how to defuse the problems. 

In a statement to the Commons, the Northern Ireland secretary said: ‘The violence witnessed last week is totally unacceptable. Attacks on police officers are utterly reprehensible.

‘Those engaged in this destruction and disorder do not represent the people of Northern Ireland.

‘It is tragic and deeply concerning that young people have been engaged in and encouraged into this violence and, as a result, will now end up with criminal records.

‘It can be easy to look for a simplistic explanation for the recent disorder, however it is clear that the factors behind it are in fact complex and multi-faceted.’

Mr Lewis said there remain ‘elements of fragility’ in Northern Ireland despite the ‘huge strides’ over the past two decades.

He told MPs: ‘People are frustrated after a year in which coronavirus has challenged all of us, and I do recognise how frustrating it’s been especially for young people in Northern Ireland facing the uncertainty around lifting lockdown restrictions without having a clear road map in Northern Ireland.

‘There is also a perception that the rules and restrictions have not been enforced equally in Northern Ireland and we all know there are strongly-held political views within and between communities that can be in tension with each other.

‘I recognise that there are concerns about the implications of the Northern Ireland Protocol, concerns which overlap with wider questions about national identity and political allegiance, and that comes at a time of economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

‘Northern Ireland has made huge strides over the last two decades but it is a post-conflict society and there do remain elements of fragility.’ 

Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Louise Haigh said there was a ‘very deep sense of hurt and anger amongst the unionist and loyalist communities which has been building for months and which must not be ignored’.

‘The Prime Minister made promises to the people of Northern Ireland that there would be no border with Great Britain, knowing full well his Brexit deal would introduce barriers across the Irish Sea,’ she said.

‘He made those promises because he knew economic separation would be unacceptable to the unionist community and the growing political instability we are seeing has its roots in the loss of trust that this caused.

‘Trust matters, it is what secured and has always sustained the Belfast Good Friday Agreement … trust, leadership and partnership are paramount to finding a way forward in Northern Ireland.’

DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson called on the Government to scrap the Northern Ireland Protocol altogether.

He said: ‘Importantly, there was a breach of trust in relation to the Northern Ireland Protocol and creating barriers to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland that we were told would not happen and have happened. They undermine the sense of identity and the place of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom.

‘What is the Secretary of State going to do with the Northern Ireland political parties to address the issues around policing and justice, and, crucially, to replace this Protocol with something better that restores Northern Ireland’s place fully within the internal market of the United Kingdom?’

Mr Lewis replied: ‘We took unilateral action just a few weeks ago to ease some of the issues and issues that would have made matters even more difficult as I suggested at the time. I think it is now very clear they were the right actions to take.

‘I think, through that, people can see that we are determined to deal with some of the problems and the issues there (with) the Protocol.’