The government of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will present legislation on Monday in which the Brexit agreements will be adjusted unilaterally. You can read it on the UK House of Commons website. The change will only increase tensions between the EU and the UK.
The UK Government is thus laying down the rules of the so-called Northern Ireland protocol in national law. With that translation, the British can choose not to include certain parts of the agreement in the legislation, but their own chosen solutions can.
The protocol – which Johnson himself agreed to three years ago-kept the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland Open. To avoid a hard border, Northern Ireland (unlike the rest of the UK) is still part of the European single market. As a result, old-fashioned customs controls take place to get products from Great Britain into the Northern Irish part of the UK.
The British want to get rid of those customs controls right from the start. They want to break the protocol and make new agreements with the EU, but they are not waiting for that in Brussels. The EU only wants to talk about wrinkles within the agreement that can be smoothed out.
Brussels has repeatedly warned London against unilaterally adjusting international agreements. In the worst case, sanctions could be imposed that could result in a trade war. However, they are not yet that far. According to the Bloomberg News Agency, a statement is ready in which the EU urges the British to calm down and asks them to continue negotiations.