Brexit LIVE: Final straw! Frost loses it as Queen dragged into EU row – issues ultimatum

David Frost: EU sometimes appears to 'not want' UK success

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

And the Brexit minister admitted recent trips to the North had filled him with “deep concern” at the situation – while stressing the UK was ready to take steps to “safeguard our own position”. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Lord Frost said: “We know that many medicines and drugs are being withdrawn. We have seen the Jewish community in Northern Ireland saying they feel at risk because they are struggling to import kosher products from elsewhere in the UK.

“Garden centres can’t get many kinds of plants and seeds from the rest of the UK because their import to Northern Ireland is banned.”

He added: “We are even in a position where plans to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year by planting trees cannot be properly implemented in Northern Ireland because English oaks, and many other trees, can’t be moved there – even though plenty were moved until the end of last year, and as far as I am aware have not all been cut down since.”

Referring to the Northern Ireland Protocol, the controversial mechanism for preventing a hard border which critics say has instead resulted in a border down the Irish Sea, Lord Frost explained: “Whenever I go to Northern Ireland I find a high degree of concern about this situation.

“Some want it resolved by negotiation; some want us to use the safeguards available under Article 16 of the protocol. But everyone wants it resolved.

“I still hope the EU can show the ambition needed to fix the problem by agreement. If they can’t, of course, we will have to safeguard our position in other ways.”

[THIS IS A LIVE BLOG – SCROLL DOWN FOR REGULAR UPDATES]

KEY EVENTS

  • Frost loses it as Queen dragged into EU row – issues ultimatum07:11
  • British buyers head to Costa del Sol in droves ‘looking for golf properties’

    Costa del Sol has long been popular with British expats, although Covid and Brexit recently impacted numbers. However, a property expert told Express.co.uk Britons are now coming back to Spain.

    Marc Pritchard is the sales and marketing director at Taylor Wimpey España and he told Express.co.uk that UK sales are on the rise again after Covid.

    Taylor Wimpey Espana sells properties across Spain including in the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca.

    Mr Pritchard told Express.co.uk: “UK buyers are clearly returning to Spain, based on our leads and sales figures.”

    ‘We’re not going back to it’

    On Saturday, the protest heard that the Northern Ireland Protocol must be retained and that checkpoints should never return to the border.

    Campaigner Declan Fearon told the crowd: “We never want to go back to it again and we’re determined we’re not going back to it.”

    Taoiseach Micheal Martin said this week that he believed there is “a genuine desire” on all sides to resolve the protocol dispute without the use of Article 16.

    Speculation has continued for months that the UK Government is preparing to trigger Article 16.

    Protesters warn Boris NOT to trigger Article 16

    Campaigners gathered at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic on Saturday to warn the UK Government against triggering Article 16.

    A crowd gathered at Carrickcarnon to demand that the post-Brexit arrangements introduced for Northern Ireland are retained and protected, amid ongoing negotiations between the UK and the EU.

    Damian McGinty, from Border Communities Against Brexit, told the crowd that the majority of people in Northern Ireland opposed the UK’s exit from the EU.

    “Don’t forget, 56 percent voted to remain and we voted to remain in the EU and by any calculation that is a majority. And a majority also support the protocol, the DUP do not speak for us.”

    Mr McGinty took aim at Brexit chief negotiator Lord Frost, and called his approach to Brexit “disgraceful”.

    He said: “The European Union have a critical role to play here.”

    If the UK does trigger Article 16, which would suspend elements of the post-Brexit arrangements in place in Northern Ireland, “the EU must stand in solidarity with Ireland and stand in solidarity with the people who live in this region”, Mr McGinty added.

    EU uses ‘wrong colour ink’ on customs slips stopping ‘thousands of pounds’ of products

    THE EU was put to shame after “tens of thousands of pounds” of products heading to Europe from the UK got rejected due to tiny administrative errors, a Dispatches investigation exposed.

    Thousands of pounds worth of products are being turned away at Europe’s borders because the wrong ink was used in customs forms.

    It comes as a fresh analysis dissected the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) 11 months after it came into effect. The TCA sets out preferential arrangements in areas such as trade in goods and services, digital trade, fisheries, as well as many other things.

    It is underpinned by provisions ensuring a level playing field and respect for fundamental rights.

    Frost loses it as Queen dragged into EU row – issues ultimatum

    Lord David Frost has lambasted opposite number Maros Sefcovic over the EU’s petty refusal to allow English oaks to be transported to Northern Ireland to be planted in honour of the Queen’s Platinum anniversary next year.

    And the Brexit minister admitted recent trips to the North had filled him with “deep concern” at the situation – while stressing the UK was ready to take steps to “safeguard our own position”.

    Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Lord Frost said: “We know that many medicines and drugs are being withdrawn. We have seen the Jewish community in Northern Ireland saying they feel at risk because they are struggling to import kosher products from elsewhere in the UK.

    “Garden centres can’t get many kinds of plants and seeds from the rest of the UK because their import to Northern Ireland is banned.”

    He added: “We are even in a position where plans to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year by planting trees cannot be properly implemented in Northern Ireland because English oaks, and many other trees, can’t be moved there – even though plenty were moved until the end of last year, and as far as I am aware have not all been cut down since.”

    Source: Read Full Article