Maros Sefcovic speech LIVE: EU chief to lay out huge Brexit deal changes as he caves to UK
Bernard Jenking speaks on the Northern Ireland Protocol
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European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic will hold a news conference on Wednesday afternoon in which he will outline Brussels’s decision on British proposals for the Northern Ireland Protocol. Mr Sefcovic is expected to announce the EU will scrap up to 50 percent of customs checks on British goods entering Northern Ireland. The same rules will likely also apply to meat and plants.
The moves come a day after UK Brexit minister Lord David Frost demanded a new protocol because he claimed the one he had originally negotiated was “not working”.
Speaking on Sky News, Oliver Dowden, Conservative Party chairman, said the EU announcement would be “welcome” and promised “the government as a whole will engage fully, constructively with these proposals.”
“It is important that there is fundamental change to the Northern Ireland Protocol so we’ll be looking to see that, but let’s see exactly what the EU comes up with,” he added.
MrSefcovic’s speech is expected to commence at 5:30pm.
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It was always the plan to change the protocol, insists Dominic Cummings
Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings has revealed it was always part of the plan to renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol.
The Government maintains it intended to implement the Northern Ireland protocol as it was agreed but that the reality of the situation shows that it is “not working” and a new agreement is needed.
However, Mr Cummings says it was always his plan to “tidy things up” once an agreement has been reached.
Johnson didn’t even understand the agreement! rages Dominic Cummings
In a series of tweets, the prime minister’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings suggested Boris Johnson did not understand the deal.
Mr Cummings repeatedly refers to the prime minister as ‘the trolley’ which is a derogatory nickname.
Mr Cummings said: “What I’ve said does NOT mean ‘the PM was lying in General Election 2019’, he never had a scoobydoo what the deal he signed meant.
“He never understood what leaving Customs Union meant until November 2020.”
Mr Cummings added that when Mr Johnson did finally understand, “he was babbling ‘I’d never have signed it if I’d understood it’ (but that WAS a lie)”.
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