{"id":3264,"date":"2022-08-30T01:35:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T01:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/northern-ireland-protocol-fact-checking-claims-about-brexit\/"},"modified":"2022-08-30T01:35:27","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T01:35:27","slug":"northern-ireland-protocol-fact-checking-claims-about-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/northern-ireland-protocol-fact-checking-claims-about-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland Protocol: Fact-checking claims about Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By Reality Check team<\/strong>
BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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<\/span>Image source, <\/span>Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced plans to “fix” the Northern Ireland protocol – the Brexit deal the prime minister negotiated and signed.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Boris Johnson visited Northern Ireland on Monday for talks, after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to enter the new government because of the protocol.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It came into force in January 2021, designed to avoid checks on goods between NI and the Irish Republic (a border between the UK and the European Union). <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But it has meant checks on goods arriving in NI from the rest of the UK – something the DUP objects to and Mr Johnson promised, in 2019, would not happen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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We’ve looked at what Ms Truss – and other members of the government – have been saying about the protocol. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

‘Rules on taxation mean that citizens in Northern Ireland are unable to benefit fully from the same advantages as the rest of the UK, like the reduction in the VAT [value added tax]on solar panels’ – Liz Truss<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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In March, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced he would abolish VAT (a tax paid when buying goods) on domestic solar panels, insulation and heat pumps but would not “immediately be able to apply it to Northern Ireland”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This is because NI follows rules on VAT set by the EU – which has a minimum rate of 5% (unless certain products have been exempted – something it is planning to do for “green” products such as solar panels).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The fact NI would have to follow these rules was made clear in the text of the protocol<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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On VAT, it stated: “The provisions of [European] Union law listed in Annex 3 to this protocol concerning goods shall apply to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Under the terms of the protocol, however, the EU-set rate of VAT in NI is collected by the UK government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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And, in the case highlighted by Ms Truss, money equivalent to the value of Mr Sunak’s cut will be given to the government in Northern Ireland. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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