Sir, – There is a risk that ongoing attempts to coax one political party back into power-sharing government will disturb the constitutional fundamentals of the Belfast Agreement. This concern springs from mooted supplementary incentives that should have nothing to do with the EU-UK negotiations. The Windsor Framework is complex, yes, and does require further legal clarification, but its key themes are reasonably clear. At its core, this is about making the existing special arrangement work; it does not replace the NI Protocol. Worries arise from potential unilateral action by the UK government. The intergovernmental care taken with the precise language used in 1998 on constitutional status is well known. Any suspicion that this delicate compromise is about to be revisited, in a misguided attempt to offer additional reassurance, should be setting off alarm bells on this island. The UK government would be well advised to reconsider. – Yours, etc,
Prof COLIN HARVEY,
School of Law,
Queen’s University
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Belfast.