Brexit outrage: ‘Rotten’ EU plot to hamstring UK as Boris’s VAT masterstroke scuppered

Boris Johnson 'not ambushed' by NI Protocol says Lewis

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Rishi Sunak will deliver his Spring Statement today, on Wednesday, with some tax cuts and freezes expected. But pro-Brexit campaigners have highlighted the Chancellor’s powers are limited in part of the UK due to agreements that continue to tie the country to Brussels.

GB News host Darren Grimes insisted the EU’s continued power over Northern Ireland was an “outrage”.

He argued the “rotten” Protocol, which has been the cause of much contention, is not fit for purpose and ought to go.

Mr Grimes wrote in a post on Twitter: “If we remove VAT on energy bills, we cannot do the same in Northern Ireland.

“That is undoubtedly an outrage that most cannot stand for.”

He added: “This rotten EU Protocol needs to go.

“Northern Ireland is part of our country, it should be able to benefit from Brexit with the rest of us.”

Article Eight of the Protocol keeps Northern Ireland under the EU’s VAT regime, which involves numerous Brussels directives.

The rate can not fall below five percent.

READ MORE: P&O suffering seven million pound loss

The Protocol, which forms part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, negotiated by former Brexit Minister Lord Frost and signed by Boris Johnson in January 2020, only allows the UK to “apply” for VAT exemptions and reduced rates.

Traditional Unionist Voice party leader Jim Allister described the situation as an “absurdity”.

He, quoted in the Belfast Telegraph, said: “If the Chancellor decided to remove VAT from fuel and electricity, we could not benefit because it is the EU’s writ, not Her Majesty’s Government’s writ that rules our VAT.”

DON’T MISS:
Boris urged to cut the ‘soundbites’ and focus on action [OPINION]
Tory civil war erupts as Scottish Conservatives REFUSE to back Boris [REPORT]
Prince Andrew legal settlement with Giuffre ‘will have been millions’ [REVEAL]

This, he added, was “yet another reason why the iniquitous Protocol must go”.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie, quoted in the same paper, also stressed the UK Government’s inability to overrule Brussels’s VAT rules needed addressing.

Amid a cost-of-living crisis, he said it was important leaders come together to make a joint decision on costs as soon as possible.

Mr Beattie stressed: “This is not the time for ideology as our people have to choose between eating or heating or being unable to afford to run their car to get to work due to petrol prices.

“This is a time for grown-up politics without partisan viewpoints.”

Talks over the Northern Ireland Protocol continue, having so far been described as amicable yet inconclusive.

Source: Read Full Article