Tory leadership: What candidates think about Northern Ireland Protocol

Boris Johnson promised to "Get Brexit Done" but his successor will inherit a bogged-down dispute about special arrangements that were agreed for Northern Ireland.

His government recently introduced a bill in the House of Commons which could override parts of the post-Brexit deal between the UK and the EU - known as the Northern Ireland Protocol - and make it easier for some goods to flow from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

If passed, the bill would not only affect the UK's relationship with the EU, but also rules for businesses in Northern Ireland and the future of Northern Ireland's devolved government at Stormont.

It collapsed in February after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) walked out in protest against the protocol, pledging not to return unless its concerns were addressed.

And there are some other Northern Ireland-related issues which contenders have taken positions on.

So where do the candidates stand?

But it means new checks and controls on commercial goods which come into Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK, creating a trade border in the Irish Sea.

It is opposed by Northern Ireland's unionist parties, who say it undermines their place in the UK.

Other parties - including Sinn Féin, Alliance and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) - say the protocol is a necessary compromise to mitigate the effects of Brexit in Northern Ireland.

The treaty was signed by Boris Johnson in January 2020, as part the Withdrawal Agreement.

The EU has put forward its own proposals to ease checks, but negotiations between Brussels and London on how to fix problems with the treaty have stalled.

Brussels views the protocol bill as a clear breach of international law and has urged the UK to "step back" from its approach.

Senior EU figures have warned that Britain risks damaging trust as well as its reputation abroad.

The European Commission has launched legal action over Britain's alleged failure to implement parts of the treaty and the BBC understands further so-called infringement proceedings could follow.

If the bill becomes law and ministers do start changing parts of the treaty, the EU's suggested it could also impose trade sanctions. This is why you might have heard warnings of a possible trade war.

UK access to the EU's Horizon research programme has also been described as collateral damage in the dispute. There is currently a block on the UK re-joining the £81.2bn funding scheme.

The Saffron Walden MP has yet to set out her position on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

She was a strong supporter for Brexit and voted in favour of the protocol bill at its second reading.

She says the Northern Ireland Protocol isn't working and the legislation currently going through Parliament which could scrap large parts of it "needs to be improved".

Ms Braverman has pledged that under her leadership, the EU would have no more say over taxes in Northern Ireland and she would stop "the direct flow of dynamic EU law" into Northern Ireland.

She says that from the first day the protocol legislation becomes law, she would ensure VAT, excise duty and medicines regulation in Northern Ireland would be set in UK law.

Ms Braverman has previously said the UK had a "legal basis of necessity" to pass legislation which would scrap large parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

She told ITV this was based on damage to Northern Ireland's economy, the Good Friday Agreement being "under threat" and the collapse of the devolved government at Stormont after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) walked out in protest over the protocol.

By virtue of her role as attorney general for England and Wales she is also advocate general for Northern Ireland, meaning she is the chief legal advisor to the UK government about Northern Ireland.

She voted in favour of the protocol bill.

Mr Hunt has committed to backing the protocol bill and securing its passage through Parliament.

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Mr Hunt said: "[The protocol] has to be changed.

"No British prime minister could accept the situation we have now and that's why I am supporting the bill that is going through Parliament.

"I hope the EU with a new face in Number 10 would negotiate legal changes to the protocol.

"But if they are not prepared to negotiate changes to the treaty, then we have to invoke the clause of necessity and say this is unfortunately something that is absolutely essential to the integrity of the United Kingdom and we will have to take action."

He voted in favour of the protocol bill.

Ms Mordaunt has previously told the House of Commons that the protocol is creating "unique disadvantages" for Northern Ireland, disrupting trade and posing difficulties for firms due to "increased bureaucracy and costs".

In the debate on 16 June, she added: "We need an approach to implementation that respects the delicate balance between the interests of all communities in Northern Ireland and the economic and cultural links, east and west, as well as north and south."

In 2019, when voting in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, she said: "Every citizen of the UK should be able to marry who they love. The fact that people Northern Ireland have been unable to has torn at the social fabric of our country."

She abstained in the vote on the protocol bill.

In Brussels, many view Boris Johnson as the blustering Brexit poster boy who tried to backtrack on a deal for Northern Ireland that he himself had signed.

So while they aren't shedding a tear about his downfall, they're also wary of who might come next. No candidate has disowned the bill that could allow the UK to override parts of the protocol.

Indeed one of the contenders, Liz Truss, was responsible for drafting it while another, Suella Braverman, wants to toughen it up.

Diplomats here may hope that someone like Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Tom Tugendhat or Rishi Sunak will take, as they'd see it, a more pragmatic approach.

But even though there are candidates who likely wouldn't have chosen the current prime minister's approach, now the bill's in motion, no one appears prepared to stop it.

The difference between contenders, in the end, may be between those who really are prepared to risk a so-called trade war with the EU versus those who aren't.

But that's a test that won't come for months at least, if at all.

For now, all the contenders are broadly holding the line set by Mr Johnson.

A key watch will be whether anyone in the race signals a desire to give negotiations another push. However don't expect anyone to volunteer the idea that they're open to making concessions to Brussels.

A wider question is whether a new prime minister can reset strained relations with the EU. But again, in this contest, that doesn't appear to be a fashionable cause.

In May, Mr Sunak told Bloomberg that the way the protocol was operating was posing enormous challenges to "the stability of the situation" in Northern Ireland.

He said it had become a barrier to re-establishing power sharing at Stormont.

Mr Sunak said the government's preference was a negotiated settlement and added that he wanted to ensure Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom was secure.

At the end of 2021, the Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Sunak urged Boris Johnson and his former chief Brexit negotiator Lord Frost not to "blow up " talks with the EU about the protocol.

The paper said Mr Sunak raised concerns over the potential impact this would have had on the economy and that he did not have the same sense of "urgency" as others in cabinet about dealing with the protocol.

At the time the Treasury declined to comment.

He abstained during the vote on the protocol bill.

As foreign secretary, Ms Truss was responsible for introducing the bill to scrap parts of the protocol.

Speaking in the House of Commons when the bill was first debated, she told MPs that due to "the grave situation in Northern Ireland", there was a "necessity to act to ensure institutions can be restored as soon as possible".

In a letter to the Financial Times in June, Ms Truss said the protocol was undermining the Good Friday Agreement, had created practical problems and "a growing sense that the rights and aspirations of some parts of the community are being undermined".

She said new legislation was necessary because "all other options within the current EU mandate are currently exhausted".

He did not vote on the Northern Ireland Protocol bill, telling Sky News this was because he was in the United States at the time representing Parliament.

But Mr Tugendhat has said he would deliver the bill as prime minister.

"The reason I would deliver it is that you need two things to keep the United Kingdom's sovereignty intact and whole including Northern Ireland of course, absolutely fundamental to our United Kingdom," he told Sky's Ridge on Sunday.

"You need to have the leverage and you need to have the trust. The Northern Ireland bill delivers leverage but that is not enough, you need a clean start in order to get the trust, in order to get this government serving the British people across not just GB but NI too."

When asked if he was up for a battle with the EU, which believes the bill breaks international law, he replied: "I have fought for my country in combat, I have fought for my country in Parliament and I will keep fighting for my country."

On the issue of Troubles legacy issues, Mr Tugendhat has indicated out in the past that he opposes soldiers being investigated for alleged historic offences - which is a key element of the government's legacy bill in Parliament.

Mr Zahawi told the Daily Telegraph he would continue to support the protocol bill, which he voted in favour of.

His campaign chairman is former Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who helped draw up the legislation.