David Frost tells the Lords the NI Protocol has been 'the source of considerable and ongoing disruption to lives and livelihoods' and that 'the circumstances exist to justify the use of Article 16'. But he says 'it's not the time to do so' and talks with the EU will continue.
Lord Frost says there should be an agreed 'standstill period' during which all grace periods stay in force and EU legal action over alleged breaches of the Protocol are frozen. He says this would 'ensure there is room to negotiate' and 'provide a genuine signal of good intent'.
Lord Frost concedes the UK's proposals would require 'significant changes to the Protocol text' itself. He adds: 'We hope the EU will see that the prize of a settlement which is durable and which allows us to move on is worth the process. We must keep our eyes on the prize.'
Lord Frost: 'We work in these proposals with concepts of the Protocol - we've not swept it away. We don't agree that the right thing is simply to scrap the Protocol and nothing need fill its place. We believe the right thing is to work with the grain.'
Lord Frost recognises that the UK's proposal to strip the ECJ out of the governance of the NI Protocol is a 'significant point'. But he says: 'It simply does not fit with the reality of the situation to have laws imposed and policed by institutions outside the UK territory.'
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