Invention is the mother of ‘necessity’: the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill

George Peretz KC

There is no doubt that, if implemented, the Bill would mean that the UK would not be complying with the Withdrawal Agreement, writes George Peretz QC (Monckton Chambers).

The Protocol

Anyone remembering the 2019 General Election is likely to have an image in their mind of the current prime minister talking about the ‘great’ and ‘oven-ready’ withdrawal deal (the Withdrawal Agreement: ‘WA’) that he had negotiated with the EU and wanted voters to endorse. An integral part of the WA was the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol (‘the Protocol’).

Though the Protocol says that it keeps Northern Ireland in the UK customs territory and UK internal market what it actually does is very different. In particular in areas of interest to tax practitioners:

it applies the EU Union Customs Code to all movements of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland with a limited exception for goods from...

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There is no doubt that, if implemented, the Bill would mean that the UK would not be complying with the Withdrawal Agreement, writes George Peretz QC (Monckton Chambers).