A British minister today raised fears of a return to violence in Northern Ireland unless Brexit border arrangements are resolved.
Europe Minister James Cleverly warned against a revival of The Troubles amid mounting “community tensions” over checks on goods after the UK quit the EU.
He told the Commons European Scrutiny Committee: “Everyone in government is really focused on making sure we don’t see Northern Ireland slip back into violence at all.
“We feel that this is one of the things we should address to prevent that happening.”
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Ministers are increasingly frustrated at the standoff with Brussels over the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is designed at preventing a hard border with the Republic along the 310-mile frontier - the UK's only land boundary with the EU.
Unionists say a border has effectively been created in the Irish Sea, hampering trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland because of checks on some goods.
Experts fear it jeopardises the fragile 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, which brought an end to The Troubles.
Admitting talks between London and Brussels had hit an “impasse”, Mr Cleverly urged the EU to loosen rules under the Protocol - and suggested European leaders did not understand the potential for violence.
“The point we are making is that many of us have lived through the Troubles,” he told MPs.
“We are absolutely determined to protect the Good Friday Agreement and not go back to that point in time.
“The tensions that are building are the primary focus for our concern.”
He also lashed out at American politicians who comment on the Protocol from across the Atlantic.
US President Joe Biden is thought to be wary of negotiating a UK trade deal until the row over the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic is settled.
Mr Cleverly insisted British politicians were better placed to comment on the province.
“We are closer to it - geographically, obviously - but this is something we look at all the time and in detail,” he said.
“I do sometimes think there is a bit of a misunderstanding of exactly how this situation is playing out on the ground.”
Urging leaders to “sit up and take note” of Unionist concerns over the Protocol, the minister added: “I do remind our American friends and European friends that they should listen to this range of Unionist voices because they are all expressing very severe reservations - stronger than that, they are all basically saying, ‘This is not working’.”
Mr Cleverly called on EU chiefs to allow their chief negotiator Maros Sefcovic to “flex his mandate” to make compromise easier.
"The situation as we now see it is not working, it is not doing what it was meant to do, which is to protect equally north-south and east-west trade, and that, by extension, is causing community tensions in Northern Ireland,” he said.
"The truth is that we have come to something of an impasse, and I don't think that's through a lack of goodwill, and I think it's more through what we regard in the UK as an overly limited negotiating mandate.”
He renewed government threats to trigger Article 16 - suspending the arrangement - unless a solution can be found.
“It (Article 16) exists for a reason,” he said.
“We are very conscious that things need to be resolved.”
Mr Cleverly added: “We aren't just going to sit back and be passive and allow these problems to intensify.”
He also signalled legislation to override the Protocol could be included in the Queen’s Speech - where the Government outlines its plans for legislation - on May 10.
He added: “We're looking at a range of options about what we can do to ease these tensions.”
