Northern Ireland Protocol deal ‘close’ as threats recede

A DEAL on the Northern Ireland Protocol could be close after Britain dialled down its threats to trigger Article 16 of the Brexit treaty, Brussels said yesterday.

Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice-president, said a breakthrough in talks over medicine supplies could unlock the protocol talks as he dangled the prospect of an agreement.

Over a lunch of cullen skink – a thick Scottish soup – beef wellington and chocolate cremeux in London, Lord Frost, told Mr Sefcovic that Britain would prefer not to trigger Article 16.

“I welcome the change of tone in discussion,” Mr Sefcovic said after weeks of threats and counter-threats over the controversial clause.

Mr Sefcovic vowed both sides would focus like a “laser beam” in striking a deal on prescription drugs. “I’m convinced that the issue of medicines could be a blueprint for how to approach and solve together the remaining outstanding issues,” he said, before describing himself as “a practical man”.

After the talks on drugs, other issues such as checks on plant and animal health and food standards could be tackled, with problems being solved “one by one”, Mr Sefcovic said.

But he also called on the UK to reciprocate the EU’S “big move” in offering to cut many checks on British goods crossing the Irish Sea border.

He ruled out British demands to strip the European Court of Justice of its role in interpreting EU rules on Northern Ireland and warned that doing so would cost it its access to the Single Market.

A Government spokesman said Lord Frost told Mr Sefcovic that “it remained the UK’S preference to find a consensual way forward but that Article 16 safeguards were a legitimate part of the protocol’s provisions”.

There remained “significant gaps” between the UK and EU and Lord Frost had asked for the pace of negotiations to be intensified, he added.

Article 16 allows the UK or EU to override parts of the protocol if they pose a serious economic, environmental or societal risk. Britain has argued those conditions have been met because of the chilling effect the treaty has had on trade from Britain to Northern Ireland.

Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s former chief adviser, said MPS should lobby the Government not to trigger Article 16 because Boris Johnson would not be able to handle the consequences of the fallout.

He wrote in a blog that it would result in a “diplomatic mess and relations with allies damaged further” leaving the UK “in a worse position”.