Problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol stem from the relative “weakness” of the UK’s position in the Brexit talks with the EU, Boris Johnson’s former chief negotiator has said.
Lord Frost, the ex- Brexit minister who negotiated the Withdrawal Agreement, said the arrangements for Northern Ireland would only have worked if the EU’s regulatory framework had not been fully applied.
He said the EU’s “purism” in the way it was implementing the protocol – which requires customs checks on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland – was now threatening the peace process.
