The Protocol was designed to avoid a hard border by aligning Northern Ireland with the EU Single Market rules for goods, whilst upholding the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. However, in practice the Protocol has failed to manage that balance and has substantially undermined the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement is the primary and prior agreement, one of international significance which the signatories to the Protocol have committed to uphold ‘in all its dimensions’. The UK is duty bound to act to secure that Agreement. In the absence of a re-negotiated Protocol, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is required to restore the balance of the political settlement established by the Belfast Agreement.