What is the Northern Ireland Protocol and why does it matter?
The Northern Ireland Protocol has been at the heart of UK politics for the past few years.
Since the Brexit transition period ended on 31 December 2020, the protocol has been a point of friction between Westminster, Belfast and the EU.
In May 2022, Sinn Fein made history by becoming the first nationalist party to win the most seats in Northern Ireland Assembly elections, with the unionist DUP experiencing big losses.
The protocol was blamed for much of that turnaround in votes, with the DUP refusing to take part in government unless the protocol is abandoned or replaced, meaning there is no sitting government in Northern Ireland.
In a bid to break the impasse, a controversial bill put forward by Boris Johnson when he was prime minister which would have allowed the UK to change the protocol without the permission of the EU.
Since Rishi Sunak took over, relations have thawed slightly, with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying in January 2023 that she has a “very trusted and excellent relationship” with the PM and their teams are “working together to find solutions”.
On 16 February, Mr Sunak travelled to Northern Ireland to meet local leaders amid mounting speculation a deal is within reach.
What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?
The UK and EU agreed to put the protocol in place after Brexit to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Lorries can continue to cross the border from Northern Ireland into the Republic without having paperwork and goods checked – as they did when the UK was in the EU.
Read more:
Sinn Fein scores historic election win
Who is Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill?
What is power sharing and why is it used in Northern Ireland?
Because Ireland remains in the EU, a new arrangement was needed to reflect the EU’s strict food rules and border checks.
The protocol states that Northern Ireland will remain part of the UK’s customs territory – so if the UK signs a free-trade deal with another country, Northern Irish goods would be included.
However, Northern Ireland has to stick to some EU rules to allow goods to move freely into the Republic and the rest of the EU.
Goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are not subject to a tariff unless they are “at risk” of being moved into the EU afterwards.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What is the Northern Ireland Protocol?
How does it work in practice?
Products from Great Britain entering Northern Ireland have had to undergo EU import procedures at the ports.
To carry out those checks, an Irish Sea border has effectively been imposed – which Boris Johnson promised would not happen.
This has resulted in delays and sometimes sparse supermarket shelves as some suppliers have decided to stop selling to Northern Ireland due to the new cost and difficulty.
There have also been problems with “medicines, on pets, on movements of live animals, on seeds, on plants and on many others”, former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost said last year.
Not all checks specified by the EU have been fully implemented, such as paperwork for supermarkets which was reduced during a temporary “grace period”.
However, those grace periods have been extended by the UK, which has resulted in a row with the EU as it says it is a breach of international law.
A breakthrough under Rishi Sunak?
Relations between the UK and the EU have become slightly more cordial since Mr Sunak became prime minister in October.
On 31 January 2023, The Times reported the EU has accepted a plan to avoid routine checks on goods going into Northern Ireland which will involve a green lane for goods from Great Britain that are staying in the region and a red lane to check and control products going on to Ireland and the rest of the EU.
However, a Foreign Office source suggested the report was speculative and officials were engaged in “intensive scoping talks” with Brussels.
Ms von der Leyen rubbished the claims and said “everything is negotiated at the very end” but they were “very constructive talks”.
On 16 February, Mr Sunak travelled to Belfast to meet Stormont leaders amid growing speculation that a Brexit deal is edging closer.
However, senior figures within the DUP and the European Research Group of the Tory party have warned that any deal must remove the oversight of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Northern Ireland as well as dealing with trading difficulties.
While it is understood the EU and UK are close to signing off a deal that would reduce protocol red tape on the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, there is no expectation that Brussels is willing to agree to end the application of EU law in the region.
The EU contends that a fundamental plank of the protocol – namely that Northern Ireland traders can sell freely into the European single market – is dependent on the operation of EU rules in the region.
What do the unionists think of the protocol?
All three unionist parties – the DUP, Ulster Unionist Party and Traditional Unionist Voice – are very much opposed as they argue the Irish Sea border threatens Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.
The DUP’s Paul Givan resigned as first minister over the matter in February 2022.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2022: Paul Givan resigns as NI first minister
Current DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said before the elections that his party would not re-enter the Stormont Executive – which requires the support of both nationalists and unionists to function – until Westminster acts to “protect Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom”.
The DUP has set out seven tests it says must be met before it supports any new deal on the protocol.
They include: no new checks on goods between GB and NI, compatibility with the Act of Union (all part of the UK should be on equal trade footing), avoiding any diversion of trade where NI customers have to switch to non-GB suppliers, no Irish Sea border, NI citizens to have a role in any new regulations that impact them, no new regulatory barriers between GB and NI unless agreed by NI Assembly, honouring the “letter and spirit” of NI’s constitutional position by requiring upfront consent of any diminution in constitutional status.
The party said it will only enter into a power-sharing government if other parties agree the protocol must be removed or replaced.
He has claimed the protocol has led to higher prices than in the rest of the UK, particularly for dairy products and chilled convenience foods.
What do nationalists think of the protocol?
The two main nationalist parties, Sinn Fein and the SDLP, back the protocol.
Sinn Fein is in favour of the protocol as it prevents a hard border on the island of Ireland, and they want the island to be one nation.
Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill celebrates gains during the election
Its vice-president Michelle O’Neill, who is set to become first minister if a power-sharing deal can be reached, said it is also a “mitigation against Brexit”.
With Sinn Fein becoming the largest party in Stormont, nationalist views are likely to be bolstered on either side of the Irish border which could mean further resistance to changes to the protocol.
Can Northern Irish parties do anything about the protocol?
The Assembly can vote on whether to continue with the protocol in 2024, but would require cross-community support to extend the deal by eight years.
With the unionists very much opposed, this seems unlikely at the moment.
However, a simple majority vote in favour could extend the arrangement for a minimum of four years.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2021: ‘There’s an issue’ with NI Protocol, says Johnson
What is Article 16?
Article 16 is a clause intended to be used when the protocol is leading to serious “economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade”.
It allows either the UK or the EU to act unilaterally to suspend parts of the Brexit treaty to avoid such difficulties.
Invoking the article is considered a last resort when the parties have been unable to agree a joint approach to solving the problems.
The UK has raised the prospect of triggering Article 16 in the past, something Brussels has warned would “lead to instability and unpredictability”.
Any such move could prompt the EU to respond with retaliatory measures such as imposing import taxes on some areas of trade.
What is the Northern Ireland Protocol bill?
In May 2022. the government of then-PM Boris Johnson laid out plans to override the protocol with new legislation – and without the use of Article 16, citing the need to respond to the “very grave and serious situation” around Northern Ireland trade.
Then-foreign secretary Liz Truss said the bill would preserve elements of the protocol that are working, while fixing those that are not – the movement of goods, goods regulation, VAT, subsidy control and governance – in a way Article 16 cannot.
EU officials threatened legal action, with many others accusing the bill of breaking international law.
The UK government was leaning on a legal loophole called the “doctrine of necessity”, and claimed it could pass the bill because it faced “grave and imminent peril” as a result of the protocol.
However, Mr Sunak paused progress of the bill through parliament in December 2022 as efforts to secure a negotiated settlement with the EU ramped up.
Sky News analysis shows that aid distributions by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) are associated with a significant increase in deaths.
Warning: This article contains descriptions of people being killed and images of blood on a hospital floor.
The US and Israeli-backed group has been primarily responsible for aid distribution since Israel lifted its 11-week blockade of the Gaza Strip last month.
The GHF distributes aid from four militarised Secure Distribution Sites (SDSs) – three of which are in the far south of the Gaza Strip. Under the previous system, the UN had distributed aid through hundreds of sites across the territory.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, 600 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid from GHF sites, which charities and the UN have branded “death traps”.
The UN put the figure at 410, but has not updated this number since 24 June. Both the UN and health ministry source their figures from hospitals near the aid sites.
Speaking to Sky News, GHF chief Johnnie Moore disputed that these deaths were connected with his organisation’s operations.
“Almost anything that happens in the Gaza Strip is going to take place in proximity to something,” he said.
“Our effort is actually working despite a disinformation campaign, that is very deliberate and meant to shut down our efforts.
“We just want to feed Gazans. That’s the only thing that we want to do.”
However, new analysis by Sky’s Data & Forensics Unit shows that deaths in Gaza have spiked during days with more GHF distributions.
On days when GHF conducts just two distributions or fewer, health officials report an average of 48 deaths and 189 injuries across the Gaza Strip.
On days with five or six GHF distributions, authorities have reported almost three times as many casualties.
Out of 77 distributions at GHF sites between 5 June and 1 July, Sky News found that 23 ended in reports of bloodshed (30%).
At one site, SDS4 in the central Gaza Strip, as many as half of all distributions were followed by reports of fatal shootings.
Sky News spoke to one woman who had been attending SDS4 for 10 days straight.
“I witnessed death first-hand – bodies lay bleeding on the ground all around me,” says Huda.
“This is not right. Food should be delivered to UN warehouses, and this entire operation must be shut down.”
Huda told Sky News that she has been trying to obtain aid from SDS4, in the central Gaza Strip, for the past 10 days
Huda says that the crowds are forced to dodge bombs and bullets “just to get a bag of rice or pasta”.
“You may come back, you may not,” she says. “I was injured by shrapnel in my leg. Despite that, I go back, because we really have nothing in our tent.”
One of the deadliest incidents at SDS4 took place in the early hours of 24 June.
According to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces opened fire as people advanced towards aid trucks carrying food to the site, which was due to open.
“It was a massacre,” said Ahmed Halawa. He said that tanks and drones fired at people “even as we were fleeing”. At least 31 people were killed, according to medics at two nearby hospitals.
Footage from that morning shows the floor of one of the hospitals, al Awda, covered in blood.
The IDF says it is reviewing the incident.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Doctor’s final moments revealed
Issues of crowd control
Unnamed soldiers who served near the aid sites told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that they were instructed to use gunfire as a method of crowd control.
An IDF spokesperson told Sky News that it “strongly rejected” the accusations that its forces were instructed to deliberately shoot at civilians.
“To be clear, IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians,” the spokesperson said, adding that the incidents are “being examined by the relevant IDF authorities”.
Eyewitness testimony and footage posted to social media suggest that crowd control is a frequent problem at the sites.
The video below, uploaded on 12 June, shows a crowd rushing into SDS1, in Gaza’s far southwest. What sounds like explosions are audible in the background.
Footage from the same site, uploaded on 15 June, shows Palestinians searching for food among hundreds of aid parcels scattered across the ground.
Sam Rose, the director of UNRWA operations in Gaza, describes the distribution process as a “free-for-all”.
“What they’re doing is they’re loading up the boxes on the ground and then people just rush in,” he says.
Sky News has found that the sites typically run out of food within just nine minutes. In a quarter of cases (23%), the food is finished by the time the site was due to officially open.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Doctors on the frontline
Confusing communications
Sky News analysis suggests that the issue may be being compounded by poor communications from GHF.
Between 19 June and 1 July, 86% of distributions were announced with less than 30 minutes’ notice. One in five distributions was not announced at all prior to the site opening.
The GHF instructs Palestinians to take particular routes to the aid centres, and to wait at specified locations until the official opening times.
The map for SDS1 instructs Palestinians to take a narrow agricultural lane that no longer exists, while the maps for SDS2 and SDS3 give waiting points that are deep inside IDF-designated combat zones.
The maps do not make the boundaries of combat zones clear or specify when it is safe for Palestinians to enter them.
The same is true for SDS4, the only distribution site outside Gaza’s far south. Its waiting point is located 1.2 miles (2km) inside an IDF combat zone.
The official map also provides no access route from the northern half of Gaza, including Gaza City, across the heavily militarised Netzarim corridor.
“They don’t know what they’re doing,” says UNRWA’s Sam Rose.
“They don’t have anyone working on these operations who has any experience of operating, of administering food distributions because anyone who did have that experience wouldn’t want to be part of it because this isn’t how you treat people.”
Once the sites are officially open, Palestinians are allowed to travel the rest of the way.
The distance from waiting point to aid site is typically over a kilometre, making it difficult for Palestinians to reach the aid site before the food runs out.
The shortest distance is at SDS4 – 689m. At a pace of 4km per hour, this would take around 10 minutes to cover.
But of the 18 distributions at this site which were announced in advance, just two lasted longer than 10 minutes before the food ran out.
“We don’t have time to pick anything up,” says Huda, who has been visiting SDS4 for the past 10 days.
In all that time, she says, all she had managed to take was a small bag of rice.
“I got it from the floor,” she says. “We didn’t get anything else.”
More than 200 charities and non-governmental organisations have called for the closure of GHF and the reinstatement of previous, UN-led mechanisms of aid distribution.
In a joint statement issued on 1 July, some of the world’s largest humanitarian groups accused the GHF of violating international humanitarian principles. They said the scheme was forcing two million people into overcrowded, militarised zones where they face daily gunfire.
Additional reporting by OSINT producers Sam Doak and Lina-Serene.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
World
Teens unable to walk, mothers with rash-covered babies: Kush is ruining lives – and made with ingredients shipped from the UK
A red shipping container sits on the tarmac of Sierra Leone’s Queen Elizabeth II Quay, under swinging cranes and towering stacks of similar steel boxes.
This one will likely be parked at the port permanently. The contents are suspected to be the ingredients of kush, the deadly synthetic drug ravaging Sierra Leone.
Sky News was given access to the container two weeks after it was seized.
“Preliminary testing has shown that these items are kush ingredients,” says the secretary of the Ports Authority, Martin George, as he points to the marked contraband in massive multicoloured Amazon UK bags and a large blue vat of strongly smelling acetone.
He adds: “Shipped from the United Kingdom.”
The container was selected for screening based on its origin. The UK is with the EU and South America on the list of places considered high risk for the import of illicit substances fuelling the drug trade in Sierra Leone and the region.
Kush has shaken this part of West Africa to its core – not just Sierra Leone but Liberia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and the Gambia. It is highly addictive, ever-evolving and affordable.
The sprayed grey-green marshmallow leaves are rolled in a joint like marijuana and are extremely dangerous. Samples of the drug tested by researchers contained nitazens, one of the deadliest synthetic drugs in the world.
“It was a shock to find them in around half of the kush samples we tested, as at that point there was no public evidence they had reached Africa,” says Lucia Bird Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo from Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) who independently tested kush from Sierra Leone.
“Nitazenes are among the deadliest drugs available on retail drug markets across the world – with one nitazene in kush in Freetown being 25 times stronger than fentanyl,” she added.
The shocking effects of its potency can be seen on the bodies of young men and women around Freetown. Teenagers with sores eating away at their legs, unable to walk. Mothers who smoked during pregnancy carrying sickly rash-covered infants. Young men drooling from the intense high and slumped over while still standing.
They are not the fringes of Sierra Leonean society but a growing demographic of kush users searching for an escape. People riddled by poverty and unemployment, living in the dark corners of a capital city which has endured a brutal civil war and Ebola epidemic in the last three decades alone.
An entire community of men and women of all ages is held together by kush addiction under a main road that cuts through the heart of Freetown.
They call themselves the “Under de Bridge family” and live in the shadows of the overpass, surrounded by the sewage and rubbish discarded by their neighbours.
One of them tells us the harsh conditions drive him to keep smoking kush even after losing more than 10 friends to the drug – killed by large infected sores and malnutrition.
Nearby, 17-year-old Ibrahim is pained by growing sores and says the drug is destroying his life.
“This drug is evil. This drug is bad. I don’t know why they gave me this drug in this country. Our brothers are suffering. Some are dying, some have sores on their feet. This drug brings destruction,” he says.
“Look at me – just because of this drug. I have sores on my feet.”
Read more from Sky News:
Man separated from family by war returns home
Sky reporter returns to family home left in ruins
Across a stream of sewage, a young mother expecting her second child cries from fear and anguish when I ask her about the risk of smoking while pregnant.
“Yes, I know the risk,” Elizabeth says, nodding.
“I’ll keep smoking while I live here but I have nowhere else to go. It helps me forget my worries and challenges.”
Life under the bridge is disrupted from its sleepiness by a yell. A plain-clothed police officer is chasing a child accused of selling kush.
The lucrative industry is absorbing all age groups and spreading rapidly to nearby countries – even passing through three different borders to reach the smallest nation in mainland Africa, The Gambia.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Police hunt for kush dealers in West Africa
Gambian law enforcement has cracked down on spreading kush use with regular zero tolerance drug raids. The small population is extremely vulnerable and the country is yet to open its first rehabilitation centre. Rising xenophobia seems to be mostly directed at Sierra Leonean immigrants who they blame for smuggling kush into the country.
We spoke to one man from Sierra Leone who was arrested for dealing kush in The Gambia and spent a year in prison. He says that though he feels saddened other Sierra Leoneans are being alienated as a result of the trade he was involved in, he has no remorse for “following orders”.
“Do I feel guilty for selling it? No, I don’t feel guilty. I’m not using my money to buy the kush, people always give me money to get kush for them,” he tells Sky News anonymously.
“I needed a job. I needed to take care of my son.”
Gambia’s hardline approach has been credited with driving its local kush industry underground rather than eradicating it but is still hailed as the most impactful strategy in the region. Sierra Leone’s government told Sky News it needs help from surrounding countries and the UK to tackle the sprawling crisis.
Transnational crime experts like Lucia Bird Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo see the rise of kush as part of a global synthetic drugs network that requires a multi-national response.
“Coordinated action is urgently needed across the supply chain, particularly focused on nitazenes – the deadliest kush component,” says Ms Bird.
“Our research indicated that kush components are being imported to West Africa from countries in Asia and Europe, likely including the UK. All countries in the supply chain bear responsibility to act to mitigate the devastating and expanding impacts of kush across West Africa, a region with scarce resources to respond.”
The Women’s Euros begin in Switzerland today – with extreme heat warnings in place.
Security measures have had to be relaxed by UEFA for the opening matches so fans can bring in water bottles.
Temperatures could be about 30C (86F) when the Swiss hosts open their campaign against Norway in Basel this evening.
Players have already seen the impact of heatwaves this summer at the men’s Club World Cup in the US.
The Spain squad pauses for refreshments during a training session. Pic: AP
Read more: A complete guide to the Women’s Euros
It is raising new concerns in the global players’ union about whether the stars of the sport are being protected in hot and humid conditions.
FIFPRO has asked FIFA to allow cooling breaks every 15 minutes rather than just in the 30th minute of each half.
There’s also a request for half-time to be extended from 15 to 20 minutes to help lower the core temperature of players.
FIFPRO’s medical director, Dr Vincent Gouttebarge, said: “There are some very challenging weather conditions that we anticipated a couple of weeks ago already, that was already communicated to FIFA.
“And I think the past few weeks were confirmation of all worries that the heat conditions will play a negative role for the performance and the health of the players.”
Football has seemed focused on players and fans baking in the Middle East – but scorching summers in Europe and the US are becoming increasingly problematic for sport.
England are the tournament’s defending champions. Pic: AP
While climate change is a factor, the issue is not new and at the 1994 World Cup, players were steaming as temperatures rose in the US.
There is now more awareness of the need for mitigation measures among players and their international union.
FIFPRO feels football officials weren’t responsive when it asked for kick-off times to be moved from the fierce afternoon heat in the US for the first 32-team Club World Cup.
FIFA has to balance the needs of fans and broadcasters with welfare, with no desire to load all the matches in the same evening time slots.
Electric storms have also seen six games stopped, including a two-hour pause during a Chelsea game at the weekend.
This is the dress rehearsal for the World Cup next summer, which is mostly in the US.
Players are also feeling the heat at the Club World Cup. Pic: AP
The use of more indoor, air conditioned stadiums should help.
There is no prospect of moving the World Cup to winter, as Qatar had to do in 2022.
And looking further ahead to this time in 2030, there will be World Cup matches in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. The temperatures this week have been hitting 40C (104F) in some host cities.
Read more:
Ex-England boss receives knighthood
Football star mural unveiled
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Wildfires erupt in Italy and France amid heatwave
FIFA said in a statement to Sky News: “Heat conditions are a serious topic that affect football globally.
“At the FCWC some significant and progressive measures are being taken to protect the players from the heat. For instance, cooling breaks were implemented in 31 out of 54 matches so far.
“Discussions on how to deal with heat conditions need to take place collectively and FIFA stands ready to facilitate this dialogue, including through the Task Force on Player Welfare, and to receive constructive input from all stakeholders on how to further enhance heat management.
“In all of this, the protection of players must be at the centre.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike