The Northern Ireland Protocol is a protocol of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement that covers the special situation in the island of Ireland. Its terms were negotiated in 2019 and concluded in December 2020. The Protocol has been a thorn in the side of UK-EU relations ever since the UK left the transition period and entered a new trading relationship with the EU on 31st December 2020.

Trade disruption between Northern Ireland and Great Britain and threats of invoking Article 16 of the Protocol by the EU over Covid vaccine supplies have soured relations and brought the protocol under scrutiny on both sides of the channel.

Syed Kamall, Acting Academic and Research Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, sits down with Victoria Hewson, IEA Head of Regulatory Affairs, and journalist Owen Polley to explain the Protocol and discuss its implications.