NI Protocol: Brexit Minister Lord Frost met with LCC

Lord Frost said the protocol is presenting significant challenges for many in Northern Ireland

Brexit minister Lord Frost met with the Loyalist Communities Council during his visit to Northern Ireland earlier this week.

The LCC delegation included representatives of paramilitary groups.

Lord Frost also had talks with several other delegations, including academics and business groups at Stormont House and Hillsborough Castle.

Following his trip, he said it was hard to see the Irish Sea border in its current form being sustained for long.

Lord Frost also spent time at Andrews Ingredients in Lisburn, Arcadia Deli in Belfast and border control posts in Larne during his visit.

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The LCC confirmed that a small delegation of its members led by chairman David Campbell met with Lord Frost and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis on Monday.

A spokesperson for the LCC said the delegation emphasised the "need for significant change to the NI Protocol to bring it back into consistency with the Belfast Agreement" and "to remove the clear change in the status of Northern Ireland".

Members also highlighted efforts that were made to try to calm the wider unionist community and appealed for Lord Forst to ensure Prime Minister Boris Johnson find a "workable alternative" to the protocol.

The protocol is the part of the Brexit deal which creates a border in the Irish Sea.

It was agreed by the UK and EU in October 2019 and was subject to further negotiation in 2020.

It keeps Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods and means EU customs rules are enforced at its ports.

The NI Protocol means significant new paperwork, processes and checks when importing materials and equipment from Great Britain

On Tuesday Lord Frost said: "It's clear from my visit that the protocol is presenting significant challenges for many in Northern Ireland.

"Businesses have gone to extraordinary efforts to make the current requirements work, but it is hard to see that the way the protocol is currently operating can be sustainable for long."

He added that he hoped the EU would take a "pragmatic way forward" and that the UK government would "continue to consider all our options in meeting our overriding responsibility for sustaining the peace and prosperity of everyone in Northern Ireland".

UK and EU officials are currently engaged in low key talks aimed at simplifying the operation of the protocol.

In March, the LCC wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to withdraw its support for the Good Friday Agreement.

It said it was temporarily withdrawing its backing because of concerns about the protocol.

The LCC was set up in 2015 by David Campbell, a former chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party, and Jonathan Powell, chief of staff to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, as a means to help bring an end to loyalist paramilitarism.

It is not a proscribed organisation and is said to represent a range of individuals and views from the wider Protestant, unionist and loyalist communities.