London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 29, 2025

EU to tell Frost Brexit talks will fail unless he ditches ECJ demand

EU to tell Frost Brexit talks will fail unless he ditches ECJ demand

Concerns grow that Boris Johnson has already decided to trigger article 16 of Northern Ireland protocol
The EU’s Brexit commissioner will tell David Frost that negotiations over Northern Ireland are doomed to fail unless he drops an “unattainable” demand over the role of the European court of justice.

At a meeting in London on Friday, Maroš Šefčovič will warn the UK’s Brexit minister, Lord Frost, that Downing Street needs to “take a step” towards the EU for the talks to be “meaningful”.

There is growing concern in Brussels that Boris Johnson has already decided to trigger article 16 of the protocol on Northern Ireland in the coming weeks in order to suspend the post-Brexit arrangements and impose his own vision.

Brussels is preparing a “ladder” of retaliatory options, up to suspending the trade deal agreed last Christmas Eve, while seeking to convince the UK of the virtues of its approach.

“We think that the objectives set out by the UK are unattainable,” said a senior EU official. “The UK position is that the role of the EU’s institution needs to go … As long as that remains the UK position, I don’t see what we can do.”

The talks over the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland are in their fourth week. A protocol in the withdrawal agreement Johnson signed keeps Northern Ireland in the single market and draws a customs border down the Irish Sea in order to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

In October, the EU offered to drastically reduce the number of checks on goods coming from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in recognition of the political and economic disruption being caused. But the UK is insisting that the protocol needs a more fundamental redrafting including the removal of the European court of justice from its role as arbiter of EU law.

Brussels has countered that Northern Ireland cannot maintain single market access without the ECJ remaining as the chief arbiter of EU law.

“The UK wants us to engage in intensive talks and we are happy to do so,” an EU official said before Friday’s meeting. “But then the UK must take a step towards us to ensure that the talks are meaningful. If the UK wants these discussions to succeed, then the major step that we took on 13 October needs to be reciprocated. On questions around governance and the court of justice we have always made clear that we think that the objectives set out by the UK are unattainable.”

Brussels believes the UK is being too dogmatic in its approach, raising concerns about the sincerity of the prime minister’s desire to find a solution.

EU officials point to attempts to answer concerns over the collection of VAT in Northern Ireland. Downing Street has complained that evolution in the EU law book that applies in Northern Ireland could put traders there at a disadvantage compared with those based in the rest of the UK.

An EU official said: “There is a specific provision in the protocol, which gives a role to the joint committee for finding solutions where the application of VAT principles under the protocol creates issues in Northern Ireland. It’s one of the sub-paragraphs of article eight.

“On that point, for example, we say why don’t we use the mechanisms specifically provided for in the protocol to see how far we can go. And yet the UK having never tried that calls for a radically different approach to VAT which would require a renegotiation of the protocol.”

France’s EU affairs minister, Clément Beaune, suggested Northern Ireland had been benefiting from its access to both the EU and single market, describing Brexit as “a failure” instead for the rest of the UK.

He said on Thursday: “Brexit is a failure, it’s clear … Brexit has an impact on the British economy more negative than Covid, it’s written black and white.

“We’ve seen the shortages taking place in Great Britain, the problems in Northern Ireland are better because they have access to the European market.”

Speaking in the House of Lords on Wednesday, Frost urged the EU to “keep calm”. “In my view, this process of negotiations has not reached its end,” he said. “Although we have been talking for nearly four weeks, there remain possibilities that the talks have not yet seriously examined, including many approaches that have been suggested by the UK.”

The Labour party called on Johnson to reach a deal with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol and end the “poison of division” it says the government has provoked.

The shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Louise Haigh, said the Conservative party had been “reckless” in its approach to Northern Ireland, where a fragile peace has held for more than 20 years.

In a speech to the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Peace in Belfast, she urged the prime minister not to provoke “further poisonous instability” in the weeks ahead.

Haigh said: “The Conservatives’ reckless custody of the Good Friday agreement has sown division and undermined stability. This is not a partisan point, nor one that gives me any satisfaction. Peace in Northern Ireland is too precious to be a plaything of partisan politics.

“The Labour party recognises and pays tribute to the work done by John Major, who helped lay the ground for the Good Friday agreement. But we cannot ignore the damage that has been done.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
Lakestar to Halt External Fundraising as Investor in Revolut and Spotify
U.S. Innovation Ranking Under Scrutiny as China Leads Output Outputs but Ranks 10th
Three Men Arrested in London on Suspicion of Spying for Russia
Porsche Reverses EV Strategy as New CEO Bets on Petrol and Hybrids
Singapore’s Prime Minister Warns of ‘Messy’ Transition to Post-American Global Order
Andreessen Horowitz Sets Sights on Ten-Billion-Dollar Fund for Tech Surge
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
×