UK AGRESS TO TAKE OUT CONTENTIOUS ISSUES IN BREXIT DEAL

The British government has agreed in principle to withdraw contentious clauses from Brexit legislation that have caused a furore with the EU, as part of a deal over measures for Northern Ireland, according to Euronews.

The measures in the UK Internal Market Bill would have overridden parts of the binding EU divorce deal concerning trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, breaching international law. The UK has also pledged not to introduce further measures in a finance bill due before the UK Parliament, that also would have contravened the EU divorce treaty.

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The news of the British about-turn came in a joint announcement from senior UK minister Michael Gove and European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, co-chairs of the Joint Committee that oversees the exit deal's application relating to Northern Ireland. It would appear to be a climbdown by Boris Johnson's government, which is struggling to reach a last-ditch deal on trade and future relations with the EU before the post-Brexit transition period expires at the end of the year.

The plan to ditch parts of the divorce deal had put a huge spanner in the works of those separate trade negotiations, souring relations with the EU and with Ireland in particular.

In their statement, Gove and Šefčovič said agreement had been reached over all issues relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the binding Withdrawal Agreement that set the terms for the UK's departure from the EU last January.

The deal covers checks on items travelling from Britain to Northern Ireland including animals, food and medicines. There is agreement on determining criteria on goods deemed "not at risk" of passing on into the Irish Republic, and thus the EU. Agricultural and fish subsidies are to be exempt from State aid rules.

"In view of these mutually agreed solutions, the UK will withdraw clauses 44, 45 and 47 of the UK Internal Market Bill, and not introduce any similar provisions in the Taxation Bill," the statement says.