Brexit: Northern Ireland Protocol 'isn't sustainable'

Frost appeared in front of the Parliament’s European Scrutiny Committee this afternoon to discuss the current relationship between the EU and UK.

It comes as DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson insisted the two sides must renegotiate the protocol after a meeting with EU negotiator Maros Sefcovic.

However, Sinn Fein have said the protocol is “the answer, not the problem” and warned any unilateral action from the UK would not be acceptable.

READ MORE: Who is Maros Sefcovic? Inside look at EU's Brexit negotiator

Frost said he was “constrained” in what he could say as a statement would be made on Wednesday this week.

Speaking to MP’s, Frost said: “At the moment, I think the only way it can be made sustainable is if we could find a way to hugely reduce or eliminate the barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, goods moving in that direction, and we need to – as we go forward – try and find a way of achieving that.

“It remains the core of the problem that the boundary between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is too dissuasive, too complicated, too chilling of identity in various ways. And that’s what’s got to be solved, I think, in terms of direction of travel.

Frost told the committee that there would be a statement on the NI protocol this week

“So we’re keeping, obviously, all options on the table.”

It comes amid an ongoing row over the implementation of the protocol and the impact on Unionists in Northern Ireland who feel their place in the UK has been weakened by a trade border in the Irish Sea.

Probed on this aspect of the negotiations, Frost told the Committee: “If the workings of the protocol are undermining the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, then the protocol isn’t doing its job.

READ MORE: Brexit: Northern Ireland Protocol has failed say DUP

“And one of the core elements of the Belfast agreement was that all the different strands, the three strands, had equal status, and at the moment, it feels as if the east-west elements of the protocol are not working as well as north-south, and clearly that imbalance is not what the Good Friday Agreement intended, so that’s the core of the problem.”

The comments come as DUP leader Donaldson called on the UK and EU to renegotiate the agreement after a meeting with European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic on Monday morning.

Donaldson has called for the NI protocol to be renegotiated, but Sinn Fein do not agree

He described his message to Mr Sefcovic as “simple – the protocol has not worked”.

Donaldson added: “The barriers and distortion to trade within the UK internal market brought about by it must be swept away and not replaced.

“We have pressed the UK Government to that end. Both the Government and the EU must now renegotiate.”

READ MORE: Brexit: DUP sets out seven tests for Northern Ireland Protocol

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said the protocol “isn’t going anywhere”.

She said: “Those who campaigned for Brexit need to recall that at every stage it was made very, very clear that Brexit was bad news for all of us on the island of Ireland, that there would be, of necessity, special provisions to protect the economy north to south, to protect people’s livelihoods, to protect the infrastructure of the Good Friday Agreement.

McDonald said it was 'fanciful' to think the protocol could be abolished

“The protocol isn’t going anywhere, it has been negotiated, it has also been signed off not just by the European side but also by the British Government, so I think, with respect, any assertion that the protocol can be abolished are fanciful, that’s not going to happen.

“There are issues and challenges that have arisen with the protocol, they need to be addressed and the place to address them is in the joint committee.”

McDonald also warned that any unilateral action from the UK side would not be acceptable.