Brexit LIVE: Dont you dare! Furious Coveney issues new threat to Frost on Article 16

Brexit: 'Ireland never believed it would happen' says Bassett

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Indeed, if the UK were to unilaterally suspend parts of the deal, Mr Coveney insisted the EU would regard the move as a “serious breach of good faith”. Although he recognised a change of tone from the UK, he also claimed a large gap remains between the two sides. He said: “They are effectively suggesting that if they can’t get the compromise they are looking for from the EU they may act unilaterally and use Article 16 to set aside elements of the protocol that they don’t believe are necessary.

“I don’t believe that the EU will respond well to that. In fact, I know they won’t.

“They will respond very robustly and they will regard it as a fairly serious breach of good faith.”

Talks will resume on Friday but Lord Frost has insisted the threshold for using Article 16 remains. 

UK officials, such as Micheal Gove, hope an agreement can be made before the end of the year in order to secure a solution to the supply of medicines to Northern Ireland.

KEY EVENTS

Boris Johnson holds talks with Micheal Martin

Following the call between the two, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “Ultimately Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market was crucial to its long-term prosperity and could not be damaged.

“The implementation of the Protocol was now colliding with economic and political realities and significant change was necessary.

“The Court of Justice (CJEU) was part of this fundamental imbalance because disputes were decided in the court of one party.

“The Prime Minister and the Taoiseach agreed that a negotiated outcome was the preferred outcome and to work hard to achieve it.

“The Prime Minister was clear, however, that if talks were not able to deliver a rebalanced and sustainable outcome soon, the Government would be left with no choice but to use the safeguard measures under Article 16.

“This was a perfectly legitimate provision in the Protocol that had been agreed by all parties.”

EU will hit back if the UK triggers Article 16

Ireland’s foreign minister warned the EU will hit back if the UK triggered Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol. 

Mr Coveney said: “They are effectively suggesting that if they can’t get the compromise they are looking for from the EU they may act unilaterally and use Article 16 to set aside elements of the protocol that they don’t believe are necessary.

“I don’t believe that the EU will respond well to that.

“In fact I know they won’t. They will respond very robustly and they will regard it as a fairly serious breach of good faith.

“There’s still quite a big gap between the two sides, but at least the negotiations are focused on trying to find landing ground.

“We should give those negotiating teams time and space and also the confidentiality of what goes on that hopefully can facilitate the building of some trust, because trust is possibly the biggest problem.

“I think the EU is concerned that if they make a concession it will be banked and Lord Frost’s team will take that and look for more.”

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