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This morning European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic rejected proposals submitted by the UK which aimed to ease Brexit frictions in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
He claimed any attempt to renegotiate the Northern Ireland Protocol would cause “instability, uncertainty and unpredictability”.<\/p>\n
Delivering a keynote speech at Queen’s University in Belfast, Mr Sefcovic said the agreement must be “properly implemented”.<\/p>\n
This afternoon Downing Street reiterated its claims that the deal is unsustainable in its current form and said “significant changes” were required.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’ve spoken before about the Northern Ireland Protocol and the challenges that it continues to cause in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
“That’s why we published our command paper earlier this year, and it’s why we remain committed to significant changes to make it durable for the future.”<\/p>\n
He added the Government was focused on continuing to engaging with the European Commission to find a way forward to the problems caused by the Protocol for the people of Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
“Our focus is on talks continuing in order to determine whether we can make constructive progress.<\/p>\n
“As we’ve said and we’ve said it for some time, we acknowledge that there are significant issues in the Northern Ireland Protocol,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Lord Frost continues to have regular conversations with Mr Sefcovic and officials continue to have regular interactions with their opposite numbers.<\/p>\n
“We will continue working to secure the changes we believe are required for the Protocol.”<\/p>\n