Northern Ireland Protocol was never going to last forever, UK minister says

The EU has said it will not reopen negotiations but suggested there could be room for manoeuvre within the existing agreement

A lorry at Belfast Harbour. The UK has demanded “significant” changes to Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements but has held back from tearing up parts of the deal. FIle Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Post-Brexit trading arrangements were always meant to be flexible, a UK Government minister has argued, as he suggested the EU could yet back down and renegotiate the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Brexit minister David Frost said on Wednesday that the Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the Brexit divorce deal agreed by the UK and Brussels, was undermining the Good Friday Agreement and urged the European Union to look at UK proposals for change.