THE EU pledged in the Withdrawal Agreement to reach an arrangement with the UK that respected our sovereignty and unity. The EU is legally obliged to negotiate in good faith. But the day after the referendum, the then President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker stated: “This will not be an amicable divorce.”

The EU’s intent is clearly punishment, not partnership. So, throughout the negotiations the EU has refused to respect our sovereignty and unity. It has been negotiating in bad faith.

The EU is now threatening to block the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland by imposing EU tariffs on all such goods. It has even threatened to stop the transport of food products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Any such tariffs or blocks would divide the UK, which would clearly change the constitutional status of Northern Ireland.

This would breach the key principle of the Good Friday Agreement, that there can be no change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland without the consent of the people of Northern Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement is an international treaty. So, the EU - not the UK government - is in breach of international law.

This is not the first time that the EU has broken international law. The EU has refused to comply with judgments of the World Trade Organisation on GMO crops, hormone beef, and Airbus subsidies. The European Court ruled in the 2008 Kadi-Barakaat case that the EU could disregard the UN Charter, the supreme charter of international law, if the EU’s own constitutional order conflicted with the Charter.

It is legitimate for a state to amend or end a treaty when the terms of the treaty become a danger to that state’s sovereignty and integrity. The Withdrawal Agreement clearly damages the integrity and sovereignty of the UK, so we have every right to amend it or end it,

Will Podmore

Clavering Road, Wanstead