The Institute for Government said in a new report it was unlikely Boris Johnson’s Irish border plans will be delivered by December 2020. The think-tank claims that if the UK does not put the measures into place by the end of the transition period it could face being taken to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the European Commission.
The report says: “The Government will almost certainly be unable to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol by December 2020.
“This could result in the UK being taken to the ECJ and cause practical and political disruption in Northern Ireland.
“The Protocol involves complex customs arrangements and regulatory and customs checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain – but key details are yet to be decided by the Joint Committee established in the Withdrawal Agreement and not yet up and running.
“The deal has the support of no Northern Irish political parties and it looks almost impossible to complete the practical changes, for government and business, by the end of the year.
“Failure to comply with the Withdrawal Agreement could see the European Commission begin infringement proceedings and the UK ending up at the ECJ.”
It comes after Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal cleared the Commons last week, paving the way for the UK to leave the EU on January 31.
Britain will then enter an 11-month transition period until the end of 2020.
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He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “When people talk about the future relationship, in the UK in particular, they seem to only talk about a future trade agreement, actually there’s much more to this than that – there’s fishing, there’s aviation, there’s data and so many other things.
“I know that Prime Minister Johnson has set a very ambitious timetable to get this done.
“He has even put it into British law, but just because a British parliament decides that British laws say something doesn’t mean that that law applies to the other 27 countries of the European Union and so the European Union will approach this on the basis of getting the best deal possible – a fair and balanced deal to ensure the EU and the UK can interact as friends in the future.
“But the EU will not be rushed on this just because Britain passes law.”
Asked about the possibility of a series of side deals on specific areas if time ran out to strike a comprehensive agreement, Mr Coveney said: “We would certainly much rather negotiate a comprehensive deal that deals with all of these things collectively and together.
“If we have learnt anything from the first round of Brexit, which has taken a lot longer than it should have, is that we have got to provide certainty for people, we can’t continue to have crisis after crisis and the uncertainty and brinkmanship of Brexit negotiations.”
