Foster accuses European Commission of being tone deaf on impact of NI protocol

Earlier on Wednesday, one of Britain’s leading trade experts told MPs at Westminster that there was reason to be concerned about the sustainability of the protocol. Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said the protocol could only endure if it enjoyed broad consent.

“It is in the EU’s interest to be as accommodating as possible so as to ensure that it endures and to ensure that it doesn’t have to keep returning to this question constantly, over and over again,” he told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.“I do think the UK should further integrate into the EU’s SPS regime so as to reduce some of the most burdensome of checks. But then I also think that the “at risk” profile could be extended to cover other sorts of issues, for example around sausage meat and non-frozen meat entering Northern Ireland, and pets. I just think we already have solutions for certain specific issues that could be broadened.”