Katy Hayward: Why the Northern Ireland Protocol is a Great British concern (and not for the reasons you think)

Katy Hayward, Professor of Political Sociology, Queen’s University Belfast will discuss the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland that was signed as part of the UK-EU withdrawal Agreement in 2019 and was intended to resolve the particular difficulties for Northern Ireland arising from Brexit. But instead of clearing Northern Ireland from the UK and EU’s post-Brexit radars, the debate around the Protocol has been central to tensions between them ever since. Katy will look at the Protocol from a slightly different perspective, drawing on close monitoring of the Protocol’s development and implementation. She will show why the Protocol should be a concern to the public in Great Britain because of what it seeks to protect, because of the way it has been handled, and because what happens to it in future – for good or ill – will have implications for the whole of the United Kingdom.