Lord Frost resignation: DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson hints again at risk to Stormont over Northern Ireland Protocol

He said the Prime Minister must now “urgently” decide which is more important: The Northern Ireland Protocol or “the stability of the political institutions”.

UUP leader Doug Beattie called for a replacement for Lord Frost to be appointed urgently. However, Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Alliance Party all saw the resignation as an opportunity to amend the UK’s approach to the entire issue of the Protocol.

Lord Frost had been leading talks with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is firmly rejected by all unionist political parties for creating an Irish Sea customs border for trade with goods coming from Great Britain.

London and Brussels are trying to reach agreement that would reduce customs paperwork and the numbers of checks and inspections required on goods.

Brexit minister Lord Frost resigned with “immediate effect” on Saturday night, having previously agreed with the Prime Minister he would leave his job in January.

Citing “the current direction of travel” of the Government, as well as fears over “coercive” Covid measures and the wish for the UK to become a “lightly regulated, low-tax” economy, Lord Frost’s departure was described as a “watershed moment” in what had been an extremely damaging week for the PM.

DUP Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP has said the departure of Lord Frost from the Cabinet is “a bad sign” for the Prime Minister’s commitment to removing the Irish Sea border.

Sir Jeffrey said: “This government is distracted by internal strife, and Lord Frost was being frustrated on a number of fronts.

“We wish David well. We enjoyed a strong relationship with him and his team but this raises more serious questions for the Prime Minister and his approach to the NI Protocol.

“Whether on Northern Ireland’s access to medicines, our economic prosperity and trade with the rest of the United Kingdom or on the growing divergence between NI and GB, this Protocol has been a deeply damaging deal for the people we represent.

“The Prime Minister must now urgently decide which is more important - the Protocol or the stability of the political institutions.”

UUP leader Doug Beattie said that Lord Frost`s replacement needs to be appointed quickly.

“The negotiations on the Northern Ireland protocol are moving in a sequential manner, first with medicines, then trade, the democratic deficit and the role of the European Court of Justice,” he said. “Following the resignation of Lord Frost, it is important that a new lead negotiator is put in place quickly who understands the issues that need to be dealt with. 

“The protocol negotiations are at a critical juncture and what we need to see are solutions that remove the Irish Sea border and fully respect Northern Ireland`s place within the United Kingdom. Progress has been made, but this doesn`t disguise the fact that many major outstanding problems remain. Northern Ireland cannot be the collateral damage due to the instability within the Boris Johnston Government yet again. 

“Through continued political engagement we have secured changes in the protocol which we were told couldn`t be done. Through engagement, not threats, we will secure further protocol change which must be future proofed.”

But TUV leader Jim Allister suspects the resignation of Lord Frost has more to do with the Protocol than Covid.

“Lord Frost showed signs of genuine concern about the constitutional and economic dislocation of the Protocol - his Command Paper evidenced some of that,” Mr Allister said. “Yet, latterly, the edge had gone off his public utterances and his threats to deploy Article 16. Suggestions that the PM had applied the brakes may well be true and, if correct, concerning.

“However, I am also clear that the failure of the DUP to carry through on its threat gave HMG the room to wobble. Let off the hook of choosing between the Protocol-implementing institutions at Stormont and sustaining this Union-dismantling Protocol, the government went for the soft option of procrastination and delay. Meanwhile, the Protocol continues to bed in and build its all-Ireland economy.

“The departure of Lord Frost adds urgency to the DUP making good on its threat by ending the dither and forcing the Prime Minister to choose: Stormont or Protocol. Otherwise, the Union continues to weaken before our eyes.”

Chairman of the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), David Campbell, warned the government about “playing with fire”. The LCC has links to the three main loyalist terror groups, the UVF, UDA and RHC.

He said: “I am concerned that there will now be further delays in replacing the NI Protocol and also worried that the government may be tempted to soften their approach. Many of us have given time and space for these negotiations on the basis of Lord Frosts briefings. The government and the EU need to recognise that giving time and space is not a sign of our weakening our position. The breaches in the Belfast Agreement must be repaired. This means no border infrastructure and unfettered GB-NI trade, and no EU judicial sovereignty over Northern Ireland. Any resiling from this will be playing with fire.”

As with the TUV, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson said responsibility now falls on the DUP to act.

“Lord Frost was the only genuine member of the Government who was genuinely committed to eradicating the Union-subjugating Protocol,” he said. “Now that he’s gone, the pressure on the DUP to take real meaningful action will increase. It’s now or never.”

However, Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Alliance Party all saw the resignation as an opportunity to improve talks with the EU.

Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O’Neill said Lord Frost had undermined the NI Protocol.

“David Frost negotiated Brexit of which a majority here rejected,” she tweeted. “He has undermined the Protocol since, which limits the damage of Brexit on our people and economy. We now need momentum in the Talks to make it work better. The North will not be collateral damage in the Tory chaos.”

Ms O’Neill told the BBC Sunday Politics programme: “This is the same David Frost who negotiated Brexit and he has worked to undermine it every day since.

“I am less concerned about what is going on in the Tory Party and the dismay and the disruption,” Press Association reported.

“What I am more concerned about is that the protocol is made to work, that pragmatic solutions are found, that certainty and stability is achieved for all of our business community here who have been left high and dry in terms of uncertainty because of the Brexit mess.

“David Frost will be replaced by another minister and whoever that minister is, they need to find solutions, work with the EU, make the protocol work and provide that certainty and stability that is desperately required.”

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MP said his resignation is “an opportunity to reset” talks.

“It is telling that in his resignation letter, David Frost failed to make even a cursory mention of Northern Ireland,” he said. “The truth is that his approach to the negotiations over the operation of the protocol were aggressively influenced by narrow ideology, almost always at odds with the needs and wishes of people and businesses on this island. 

“The negotiations over the protocol cannot become a victim to the chaos at the heart of government in London. Frost’s resignation is an opportunity to reset the approach to the dialogue with the European Commission, to refresh the relationship with the EU and to return to the solutions that are presented to these challenges in the Good Friday Agreement.”

Alliance Party MP Stephen Farry tweeted: “Hopefully, this will lead to a less confrontational and more realistic approach around the Protocol,” he said. “Let’s build on momentum from the breakthrough on medicines and find pragmatic solutions to the other challenges.”

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