Thread by @Usherwood

Frost's op-ed this morning revisits the UK position that the NIP isn't working and negotiations haven't found a solution, so Art.16 remains on the table. But let's parse his comments on the CJEU for a bit

on.ft.com/3yEAh69

It's not any clear softening from June's Command Paper, so we have to keep the recent weeks in that context

But it is not totally unambiguous

The issue is presented here partly as a 'hair trigger response' and partly as having disputes 'settled' by the court

Both are consistent with current NIP language

The court is not the first port of call in Protocol dispute settlement, so a statement to reaffirm the priority of informal political discussions and then the jointly-formed arbitration panel would address this

And the CJEU only pronounces on the interpretation of EU law as is relevant to a Protocol dispute case, so it doesn't settle the dispute as a whole: the panel does

Again, a statement to reaffirm this would seem to do

Yes, selling this would be hard, but any renegotiation of the Protocol text (let alone on this) isn't on the cards at all, so maybe Frost is laying the groundwork

Let's see if the break helps clarify, but I'd assume/hope we have a couple of weeks' quiet on this