BREXIT Minister David Frost said a “significant gap” remained as he headed into talks with one of Brussels’ top officials amid efforts to resolve disputes over Northern Ireland and fishing rights.
The talks come as rumours abound of UK plans to invoke article 16 of the Northern Ireland (NI) protocol.
The triggering of article 16 is likely to lead to the suspension of checks on goods passing from NI to Great Britain.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What is the Northern Ireland Protocol and Article 16?
The UK Government can only take this step if they think “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade” exist.
Frost has repeatedly argued that this test has already been met due to the obstruction of trade between NI and GB - despite this having been an inherent feature of the Brexit deal he negotiated.
Boris Johnson and Frost agreed to have the EU border down the Irish sea, effectively splitting the UK in two, in order to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.
They have since turned on their own deal and said the protocol they agreed is not fit for purpose.
Heading to a meeting with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, Frost said: “The gap between us is still quite significant but let’s see where we can get to.
“We’re not going to trigger Article 16 today, but Article 16 is very much on the table and has been since July.
“If we can reach an agreement on the protocol that provides a sustainable solution, then that’s the best way forward.
“I’m not going to give any timescales or any hypotheticals, we are trying to reach agreement and we’re working very hard and we’re going to carry on trying.”
READ MORE: EU told to prepare for trade war with UK if Northern Ireland Protocol is suspended
The Brexit minister has previously said he expects the issues around the protocol to be settled “one way or another” this autumn.
Mujtaba Rahman, the managing director for Europe at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm, has claimed that the UK “is going to invoke Article 16”.
In a Twitter thread, the former EU commission and UK Treasury man said he expected an “immediate, emergency EU Council & political decision to *suspend* the UK-EU trade deal”.
He said the next year is likely to see a complete return to the same negotiating points which dominated since 2016 as the UK and EU once again seek to make a deal.
“Strap in - seems things are about to get very, very bumpy indeed,” Rahman said.
Others have also reported a “growing expectation” that the Tories will trigger article 16.
Sharing Rahman’s thread, Fine Gael’s Neale Richmond said the news was “worrying” as invoking the article would be “hugely damaging”.
Matthew O’Toole, a member of the NI Legislative Assembly for Belfast South, said: “The clear evidence is that people in NI do not want Article 16 to be triggered. They want the Protocol to be made to work, including with mitigations. Polling on trust in the [UK Government] is awful.
“The total indifference of London to these facts is truly frightening.”
Despite previous agreement, the UK also wants an end to the European Court of Justice’s oversight role, which Brussels has said is impossible.
The European Commission executive vice-president, Frans Timmermans, told ITV’s Peston that Brussels was “bending over backwards” to reach an agreement with the UK.
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