Irish minister in spat with Brexit negotiator Lord Frost

Simon Coveney has questioned if the UK wants “a breakdown in relations” with the European Union in a latenight Twitter spat with Brexit negotiator David Frost.

Ireland’s foreign affairs minister was responding to reports of a speech Lord Frost is preparing to give in Portugal tomorrow, in which he will make removing the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Northern Ireland a red-line issue.

The speech will come a day before the European Union is expected to produce plans to resolve issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol, which prevents a hard border on the island of Ireland, but has led to economic barriers between

Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Brussels has indicated it will provide solutions on the flow of chilled meats and medicines into Northern Ireland, but has ruled out removing the oversight role of the ECJ.

Late on Saturday night, Mr Coveney tweeted: “EU working seriously to resolve practical issues with implementation of Protocol – so UKG [UK government] creates a new ‘red line’ barrier to progress, that they know EU can’t move on... are we surprised? Real Q: Does UKG actually want an agreed way forward or a further breakdown in relations?”

Responding, Lord Frost said: “1. I prefer not to do negotiations by twitter, but since @ simoncoveney has begun the process... the issue of governance & the CJEU is not new. We set out our concerns three months ago in our 21 July Command Paper. The problem is that too few people seem to have listened.

“2. We await proposals from @Marossefcovic. We will look at them seriously & positively whatever they say. We will discuss them seriously and intensively. But there needs to be significant change to the current situation if there is to be a positive outcome.”

European Commission vicepresident Maros Sefcovic announced last week that the EU is preparing to table “very far-reaching proposals” to address issues that have arisen with the Protocol.

He said: “We have to move from the tough political rhetoric, from the threats we hear all the time, down to the business that actually solves the problems.”