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Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has issued a readout from her conversation with Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission vice-president in charge of Brexit, about the Northern Ireland protocol this morning. It confirms that the two sides are deadlocked, and that the government is now preparing to take unilateral action.
Truss does not spell out exactly what this would involved, but it has been widely reported that she is planning to announce legislation that would allow businesses in Northern Ireland to ignore EU regulations.
The foreign secretary reiterated that the UK’s proposals to fix the protocol, including green and red channel arrangements, backed up by a bespoke data-sharing system, would ensure the removal of trade barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland while protecting the EU single market.
The foreign secretary outlined why EU proposals would take us backwards, by creating more checks and paperwork. Vice President Šefčovič confirmed that there was no room to expand the EU negotiating mandate or introduce new proposals to reduce the overall level of trade friction.
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