By Ben Kerrigan –
The UK’s Brexit minister could suspend parts of the deal with the EU if the bloc does not agree changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Lord Frost has expressed concerns that the UK’s proposals would not be agreed by the EU,a adding that the protocol – put in place to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland – was “not working and needs to change”.
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Lord Frost said triggering Article 16, which would suspend part of the deal, might be “the only way” forward.
The Northern Ireland Protocol was agreed by both sides as a way to protect the Good Friday Agreement by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods, but unionists have said the protocol damages trade with other parts of the UK by creating a border in the Irish Sea.
Article 16 can be triggered by either the UK or EU to suspend elements of the Brexit deal on the condition that the protocol is causing “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade”.
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, Lord Frost said the government “knew [it was] taking a risk” when it agreed to the protocol in the autumn of 2019, claiming his team were “worried right from the start that the protocol would not take the strain if not handled sensitively”.
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He said the arrangements were “going to come apart even more quickly than we feared”, and support for the protocol had collapsed across Northern Ireland.
“We can still solve these problems,” said Lord Frost, pointing to proposals he sent to the EU in July.
“We still await a formal response from the EU… but from what I hear, I worry that we will not get a response that enables the significant change we need,” he added.
“So I urge the EU to be ambitious. There is no use tinkering around the edges. We need significant change.”
The EU has sent its own proposals to the UK on changes the protocol, but Lord Frost did not mention them in his speech.
Instead he said if the two sides did not come up with a solution, “using the Article 16 safeguard mechanism to address the impact the protocol is having in Northern Ireland…may in the end be the only way to protect our country, our people, our trade and our territorial integrity, the peace process and the benefits to this great UK”.
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