British Prime Minister Boris Johnson accuses the EU of threatening a food blockade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Such a move would destroy the United Kingdom’s economic and territorial integrity.
According to Johnson, the European Union’s stance justifies its new controversial draft Brexit law. The Internal Market Bill is intended to steer trade between different parts of the country in the right direction once EU legislation is no longer in force.
In the proposal, the government returns to agreements made last year with the European Union about the trade regime in Northern Ireland.
The bill to be discussed in the House of Commons from Monday has put the British government on a collision course with Brussels.
Negotiations about the future trade relationship after Brexit are complicated. Should those fail, Johnson says the EU intends to maintain an “extreme interpretation” of the agreements made last year.
“We are told that not only will the EU impose duties on goods shipped from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, but they may even stop the transport of goods from GB to NI,” he writes.
“I have to say that we never really believed that the EU would want to use a treaty negotiated in good faith to block part of the UK, cut it off and that they would really threaten the economic and to destroy the United Kingdom’s territorial integrity. “