Government sees ‘sensible landing’ in negotiations with EU over Protocol

Speaking to reporters ahead of Boris Johnson’s visit to Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have always sought to deal with this issue in a calm manner.

“That’s always been the approach we’ve taken when having negotiations with the EU or individual countries.

“That’s a view shared by both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary.

“We believe there is a sensible landing, as the Prime Minister said over the weekend, in which everyone’s interests are protected and we will keep that in mind as we set out next steps.”

Asked whether Brussels needed to “change its mandate”, the Downing Street official said: “What we are clear about is the mandate given to (European Commission vice-president) Maros Sefcovic does not allow him to make the changes that we think are wholly necessary to protect peace and democracy in Northern Ireland.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman added that the Northern Ireland Protocol can be “superseded” by future negotiations between the UK and Brussels.

The Downing Street spokesman said: “We believe the protocol, as drafted, allows for further negotiations, improvements and enhancements to be made, to facilitate properly, to work properly for the long term.

“That’s what we want to do. We want significant changes to how the protocol is being enforced and we think there is sensible flexibility that was envisaged when it was drafted.

“As I say, we think there is a sensible landing spot within the protocol, and that’s what we want to see.”

Asked whether he was referring to Article 16 when mentioning how the protocol was “drafted”, the No 10 official replied: “No. I understand there is a lot of focus on that but it was Article 13.8 that saw parts of the protocol being superseded by future agreements between the UK and EU.

“The protocol at the time recognised that there would be further discussions to take place.”

The UK “reserves the right” to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol but No 10 stressed that was not the currently approach being taken.

Confirming Liz Truss will make a statement on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman was asked why it was said to be looking at domestic legislation when the protocol contained the ability to unilaterally suspend the Brexit treaty.

The No 10 official replied: “We are getting slightly ahead of what the Foreign Secretary will say tomorrow when she will set out any rationale for our approach.”

Asked why the Government was not considering using Article 16, Boris Johnson’s spokesman said: “We still reserve the right to use Article 16.

“And indeed we believe the conditions have been met to use it but our focus is how we best protect peace and democracy in Northern Ireland – that will be our guiding principle for any further actions we may choose to take.”