EU would not let Ireland be singled out in protocol row – commissioner

UK Brexit Minister David Frost has warned that his Government will be prepared to suspend aspects of the protocol – by triggering its Article 16 mechanism – if it cannot reach agreement with the bloc on changing how it operates.

Europe will not allow Ireland to be singled out in the fallout if negotiations on the Northern Ireland Protocol end in failure, an EU commissioner has insisted.

Ireland’s representative in the European Commission, Mairead McGuinness, was commenting on the potential for the country to be disproportionately affected if there is a breakdown of the Brexit trading arrangement designed to prevent a hardening of the island’s land border.