Brexit minister: We will use Article 16 to suspend the Northern Ireland Protocol if we need to do so

The Brexit minister was speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference yesterday, see link below, where he was asked about diversion of trade, which is a grounds for setting aside the protocol

A questioner put it to Lord Frost that diversion of trade was foreseeable at the time of signing the protocol in 2019, and that triggering Article 16 would put the EU in the position of deciding whether to put a border on the island of Ireland. or between Ireland and France, perhaps inflaming tensions even more than the protocol does now.

Lord Frost replied that “the consent mechanism is a very important safeguard for democracy in Northern Ireland and in circumstances where foreign laws are imposed in Northern Ireland there needs to be consent to the system and that would be true in future as in the past, and if any renegotiated deal preserves any elements of that then the consent mechanism will need to last for the same reasons — so that is where that is. and that’s really important to say that as a safeguard”.

Lord Frost said that while it was possible to anticipate that some of the mechanisms in the protocol might have produced diversion of trade, “at the same time there is a safeguard in the protocol which is designed to be used if there is diversion of trade”.

He continued: “I maintain that that safeguard is there for a reason and if we are seeing significant diversion of trade, and we definitely are on the island of Ireland, the safeguards are there to be used. And that’s what we’ll do if it’s necessary.” He said no-one “wants a hard border on the island of Ireland ... that means no infrastructure, no checks at that border, I don’t think it helps to think about border checks between Ireland and France either”.

He believed there could be a solution that “is good for everyone”.

Asked if he is frustrated that he was summoned by a senior US official over the protocol pre the G7 summit, Lord Frost replied that “the prime minister, Pesident Biden, are united on the importance of the Belfast/ Good Friday agreement and they’ve said that in public and that is what we are trying to protect”.

• See also

VIDEO: Ex Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith says the NI Protocol should be replaced

VIDEO: NI Conservatives reflect on their party conference in Manchester

VIDEO: Jeffrey Donaldson and Lord Frost play down Boris Johnson’s failure to refer to NI Protocol

VIDEO: Brexit minister insists UK really is prepared to suspend Northern Ireland Protocol

Watch the arguments made in next week’s Belfast appeal court hearing on protocol, says Lord Frost

VIDEO: Donaldson says UK focused on NI Protocol and will act if EU does not budge

VIDEO: More reactions from the Tory conference to the unionist response to the NI Protocol

VIDEO: DUP leader – We unionists all reject the Northern Ireland Protocol, and it needs to be repudiated

VIDEO: Unionists hail Conservative Party fringe event on Northern Ireland

VIDEO: The three unionist leaders unite against the Northern Ireland Protocol at Tory conference

Editorial: Unionists send the Tories in Manchester a clear, united message against the NI Protocol

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