Boris Johnson must act now before Von der Leyen ‘dismembers UK before our very eyes’
Brexit: Ben Habib claims UK 'clearly isn't sovereign'
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And Ben Habib has fears if Brexit Minister Lord David Frost does suspend the controversial arrangements soon, he risks the break-up of the UK becoming “unstoppable” – with the EU using the situation to supplant the UK as the region’s main trading partner. Mr Habib is a fierce critic of the mechanism, which binds Northern Ireland to many EU rules and regulations.
Intended to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland, critics, including many in the Unionist community, argue it has instead resulted in a border down the Irish Sea.
Most medicines come from Great Britain – but the transportation process has been vastly more complex since the start of the year because Northern Ireland remains within the bloc’s pharmaceutical regulatory system.
Yesterday, the British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA), confirmed, as a result, member companies were planning to stop transporting more than 2,000 medicines to Northern Ireland by the end of the year.
Mr Habib told Express.co.uk: “Every day that passes new examples emerge of the disruption to goods traded between Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the Protocol.
“When the grace periods end many more will be disrupted.
“The warning from the British Generic Manufacturers Association is the latest in a long list.”
On Wednesday, Lord Frost published his Command Paper, in which he urged the block to negotiate the Protocol – but ruled out suspending it, at least for the moment, using a device known as Article 16.
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Mr Habib commented: “As Lord Frost so clearly said in the Lords on July 21, the grounds exist to invoke Article 16 to suspend the Protocol and prevent this sort of societal and economic damage.
“And yet, for inexplicable reasons, he decided against doing so.”
He said: “This inaction, apart from exacerbating the plight of Northern Ireland, is playing into the hands of the EU.
“It is moving fast to replace the supply of goods which traditionally would have come from GB with goods from Ireland and the EU.
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“It is intentionally seeking to replace GB as Northern Ireland’s main trading partner. It wishes to turn Northern Ireland away from the UK, towards Ireland and accelerate the reunification of the island through the backdoor.
Mr Habib warned: “It is dismembering the UK in front of our own very eyes.
“So important are supply lines, that Article 16 also cites a change in these lines as being sufficient justification to invoke it.
“At every level Article 16 should now be invoked. But Lord Frost is not doing it. His reluctance is aiding and abetting the EU in its aim to break our country.
“Unless he changes his position very soon people will, in time, look back at this moment as being when the break-up of the United Kingdom became unstoppable.”
In a statement issued on Thursday, BGMA Chief Executive Mark Samuels said: “These steps have been taken with the utmost reluctance but our members are being forced into an impossible position.
“We need all parties to set aside the politics of Brexit and put patients first.”
A Government spokesman has stressed there was no immediate risk to the public posed by the BGMA’s decision.
However, they added: “It is crucial the people of Northern Ireland have the same access to the full range of medicines as other parts of the UK.
“The UK government continues to work closely with the EU, industry partners and the Northern Ireland Executive to address outstanding issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol and minimise its impact on day-to-day lives.
“We have proposed bespoke arrangements that would enable medicines to move from or through Great Britain into Northern Ireland without the need for expensive and burdensome re-testing.
“Solutions must be found urgently to address this issue and others and we await a response to our proposals from the EU in writing.”
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