The foreign secretary and Tory leadership frontrunner is understood to have received fresh advice from trade and legal experts on invoking the emergency clause contained in the post-Brexit deal. It has long been threatened by the Truss, but there is renewed interest as the deadline approaches for the UK to respond to legal proceedings brought against it by the EU for failing to implement proper controls at the Irish Sea border. The deadline to do this is September 15 – 10 days after the next prime minister is announced. With a lengthy parliamentary battle expected over the Northern Ireland protocol bill, a senior Truss ally quoted in the Financial Times described the triggering of Article 16 as a “standstill” until the legislation is passed. Although the source said Truss would prefer a negotiated solution with Brussels, triggering Article 16 remained an option while talks remained deadlocked. Truss’ dislike of the protocol has grown in recent days after British steel producers were told they would have to pay a 25% duty to sell some construction products to Northern Ireland. Triggering Article 16 would allow either side to take unilateral action if it believed the protocol was causing “serious economic, social or environmental hardship likely to persist” or trade diversion. Serious difficulties are not defined, giving both sides room for interpretation. The UK government has long said that triggering Article 16 remains an option, and some will see the renewed debate over the possibility as a rattle designed to please die-hard Tory supporters of Brexit and they will choose the next prime minister. Over the past year, Truss has diligently lobbied Tory MPs believed to have concerns about her plans in a bid to avoid a return to the divisions that plagued the Conservatives from 2016 to 2019. Sources said the foreign secretary wanted the government to appear united, otherwise Brussels would think its threats were empty because Tory backbenchers could torpedo the more controversial elements of the Northern Ireland protocol bill. Earlier this month, the UK launched its own dispute process with the EU, accusing it of breaching the Brexit treaty by freezing its scientific research programs after the Northern Ireland dispute. Truss said there was a “clear breach” of the trade and cooperation agreement, with her department writing to Brussels asking for formal dispute talks. The UK government claimed that the EU was severely damaging research and development in both the UK and EU member states, with Britain frozen out of the Horizon scientific research programme. Copernicus, the Earth observation program that provides data on climate change. Euratom, the nuclear research program; and space tracking and monitoring.
