Lord Frost says UK proposals on NI Protocol 'wouldn’t totally eliminate the problem' in terms of East-West checks but 'would make it a lot easier to work'. He adds the UK's 'minimum' ask is goods can move in a 'much more free-flowing, open way' and that 'time is running out'.
Lord Frost says the EU's insistence on alignment with its SPS rules or accepting checks is 'a political position' and 'it isn’t a depiction of some sort of existential reality about the world'. He adds: 'They could change their rules in the context of NI if they wanted to.'
He continues: 'The EU...view is that unless you’re dynamically aligned with them and they have some control over it there have to be checks. We don’t accept that. We don’t see why in the context of NI there couldn’t be a more understanding and risk-based approach.'
Lord Frost adds: 'If the EU don't think we’re operating a high standards regime they can reflect it in the level of checks and processes they put in place. The problem is the EU accept that but say there have to be checks anyway and that’s the core of the difficulty here.'
On the chilled meats grace period, Frost says: 'We have suggested to the EU the right way forward would be to agree to extend at least for a bit to provide breathing space for the current discussions to continue. It seems a very narrow point to take such a purist view about.'
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