EU says no justification for UK to change Brexit pact on Northern Ireland

BRUSSELS: There is "no legal or political justification whatsoever" for Britain to change the Northern Ireland protocol that was part of its divorce agreement with the European Union, the bloc's post-Brexit negotiator said on Wednesday.

"We need to be realistic: no alternative solution has been found and it is not needed," European commissioner Maros Sefcovic told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

"There is no legal or political justification whatsoever for the UK to unilaterally change an international agreement," he added, referring to proposed legislation allowing Britain to scrap some of the rules on post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland.