Michael Pompeo: Interventions by Nancy Pelosi and Irish-American Congressional figures such as Richard Neal ‘undermine Belfast Agreement’

Michael Pompeo said interventions by Mrs Pelosi and Irish-American Congressional figures like Richard Neal were endangering the 1998 Agreement because they opposed the UK’s move to reform the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Speaking at the think tank Policy Exchange to mark Independence Day in the United States, Mr Pompeo rejected claims by Mrs Pelosi and Mr Neal that changes to the Protocol were a breach of the Belfast Agreement.

“It’s just the opposite. It’s literally the converse of that,” he said.

Mr Pompeo continued: “The rational response, the truth of the matter is that the United Kingdom is actually driving to uphold the Good Friday accords and delivering good outcomes. The British people, the people of the United Kingdom should be the ones that drive this.

“The leadership here in the United Kingdom should drive this. It saddens me that we have American leaders coming here and undermining the central feature of both Brexit and the Good Friday (Agreement). Of course, to get them right is possible and I pray that you will, that your leadership stay strong here in the United Kingdom and defend those things that matter an awful lot and get it right for all the peoples.”

A visit by a US political delegation to Northern Ireland in May prompted DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to label the trip as “the most undiplomatic to these shores.”

Mr Neal and eight fellow US Congress members alienated unionists at Stormont after insisting the Protocol controversy was “not a real crisis” although he later accepted that he “could have picked a more artful term” rather than “manufactured” to depict the Protocol furore.

The intervention of Mr Pompeo in the Belfast Agreement and Protocol controversy is significant given his experience as a US diplomat as well as heading up the CIA.

He served as CIA director under Donald Trump between 201 to 2018 and was twice US Secretary of State between 2018 and 2021. Within the Trump administration he was highly influential on US Foreign Policy and helped organise three summits between North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and the President aimed at reducing the nuclear threat from that regime.

Meanwhile the DUP has written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak urging him to include Northern Ireland in an expected VAT energy cut later this week.

Due to the Protocol Northern Ireland is still under an EU ruling that nations and regions inside the European Single Market cannot set their own VAT rates. This would mean the Province would be excluded from any proposed cuts to VAT within the UK.

In the letter to the Chancellor, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said any reductions on energy bills “must be applicable to all regions of the United Kingdom.”

He said the benefits of any proposed cut must also be made available to consumers in Northern Ireland.

Sir Jeffrey pointed out that working families in the Province are now paying £200 per week to fuel their vehicles and that almost 50 percent of this cost is drawn from duties, VAT and green taxes.

The DUP leader said: “It is unjustifiable that the powers granted to the European Union in respect of VAT in Northern Ireland under the Protocol could act as a stumbling block to delivering this parity.”

Sir Jeffrey continued: “The introduction of legislation to deal with the Northern Ireland Protocol is welcome. I would urge you to face down any EU blockage to extending tax cuts to Northern Ireland. The fact that energy schemes in Great Britain can avail of zero VAT but Northern Ireland cannot is a real life example of the Protocol’s madness. It is critical that action is taken now to address the crippling costs facing our households and businesses.

“Such action should be taken in a fashion that provides equal benefits to all of the UK’s citizens in line with the constitutional traditions of the United Kingdom. “

He added: “For our part, we continue to discuss with the other Parties in Northern Ireland the options available to deliver assistance to households here. In particular, we want to use the levers available to us to reduce rate bills and the cost of child care for working families.”