Michael Gove has said he is “confident” that progress can be made in talks with the European Union over the Northern Ireland Protocol without Article 16 needing to be triggered.
Speaking at the British-Irish Council summit in Cardiff, the Cabinet minister said “a constructive approach” is being taken by both sides in the negotiations and that he believes the mechanism to suspend elements of post-Brexit trading arrangements won’t need to be enacted.
The UK has previously warned it could unilaterally spend parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit deal unless major changes are made.
The Northern Ireland Protocol prevents a hard border with Ireland by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market, but that meant checks on products crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain.
It states that Northern Ireland will remain part of the UK’s customs territory however, and it will have to stick to some EU rules to allow goods to move freely into the Republic and rest of the EU.
Article 16 allows either the EU or the UK to suspend parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement if it is causing economic difficulties.
“(Brexit minister) Lord Frost has signalled that while, of course, it’s always possible that Article 16 may require to be invoked, we’re confident that we’ll be able to make progress without it,” Mr Gove said on Friday.
The Cabinet minister added that there was clear “determination” from all negotiating parties to “make progress” in discussions.
“There’s a shared recognition that we do need to alter the operation of the protocol on the ground,” Mr Gove said.
He added: “I hope that we won’t need to trigger Article 16, for reasons that will be well understood, but we reserve the right to do so if we believe that changes which are required on the ground in Northern Ireland have not been…
Source : skynews
