Cabinet Secretary Liz Truss once argued that the impact of a no-deal Brexit on Ireland would only affect “a few farmers with turnips in their trucks”, a former British diplomat claimed.
Alexandra Hall resigned from her diplomatic role in the US in 2019, saying she no longer wanted to “promote half-truths” on behalf of leaders she “didn’t trust”.
In response to the Foreign Secretary’s plan to bypass parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, Ms Hall Hall said she was “extremely pleased to see Liz Truss becoming a real expert on Irish affairs”.
The former official tweeted:[Ms Truss] After all, he was the minister who told an American audience three years ago that Brexit would not have any serious impact on Ireland…it would just hit a couple of farmers with turnips in the back of their trucks.”
A source close to Ms Truss said she did not recognize Ms Truss’ comments.
The senior Conservative Party official visited the United States in August 2019 as Secretary of International Trade, addressing the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, DC.
After backing Boris Johnson’s successful campaign for Conservative Party leadership, she has backed his threats to leave the European Union with no deal rather than abandon Brexit altogether.
Ms Hall spent more than 30 years at the Foreign Office before resigning from her post at the British Embassy in Washington in December 2019 – revealing her “dissatisfaction” with the government’s reluctance to be honest about the Brexit “compromises”.
Johnson’s government was accused in a 2021 article of downplaying “the implications of Brexit for the sensitive peace process in Northern Ireland”. Texas National Security Review.
Referring to remarks made about Irish beet growers, the former diplomat wrote: “The bad point for me was when I heard a British minister openly and abusively dismissing in front of an American audience the implications of ‘No Deal’ and writing that Brexit on Business Die Irish concern only “a few farmers who use turnips on the bed of their trucks”.
Her tweet comes as Ms Truss has defended the controversial plan to bypass parts of the protocol and insists work to deal with the “extremely dangerous” situation in the region cannot be postponed.
She told Radio Times: “We didn’t see it [Northern Ireland] Executive form since February. So we need to make these changes. These changes will make it better for everyone.”
The foreign secretary also pledged that the government would publish its legal position on her plan “very soon” as she insisted it was “legal” under international law.
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday the move to scrap parts of the protocol without a deal with the European Union “shows little respect” for the British people.
Varadkar noted that 59 of Stormont’s 90 MLAs did not want to abandon the protocol and the British public voted in favor of the Brexit deal currently in place.
He told RTE: “If they keep trying to force things on Northern Ireland that Northern Ireland doesn’t want, that will drive more people towards nationalism and away from support for the union… it just seems a bit confusing.”
Asked about possible EU retaliation and the possibility of a trade war, Varadkar said Britain “must do something” before Brussels does anything.
UK Environment Secretary George Eustice said speculation about a trade war was “extremely unhelpful” – blaming it on “media hype”.
The cabinet minister claimed there was evidence of a “thoughtful tone” coming from Brussels, despite the EU Commission’s warning that it would take “all the measures at its disposal” if the UK were to change the protocol without an agreement.
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