The British government said Wednesday that post-Brexit trade rules it negotiated with the European Union "cannot go on" and need a major rewrite, straining already tense U.K.-EU relations. The government said Britain would be justified in unilaterally suspending the legally binding Brexit agreement but had decided not to do so just yet. Regulations anger unionists in Northern IrelandThe regulations are intended to keep an open border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, a key pillar of Northern Ireland's peace process. Brexit minister David Frost said Britain had tried to implement the arrangements "in good faith," but that they were causing a severe burden on businesses and society in Northern Ireland. "Britain decided itself to leave the single market of the European Union, to apply trade rules, to apply red tape to its goods that are leaving Britain, to goods that are coming into Britain," Irish European affairs minister Thomas Byrne said.

Source: CBC News July 21, 2021 18:45 UTC