Brexit: Frost and Sefcovic to discuss NI Protocol progress

Brexit Minister Lord Frost and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic will meet today to decide if progress has been made in the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The protocol is the special Brexit deal agreed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.

It keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods and allows free-flowing trade with the EU.

But it also creates a trade border between Northern Ireland and GB.

The EU accepts it is causing difficulties for many businesses and has proposed measures to ease the checks and controls for goods crossing the Irish Sea.

However, the UK is demanding a fundamental reform of the protocol and there is growing speculation it will trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol in the coming weeks.

The measures can be taken if the protocol is leading to serious "economic, societal or environmental difficulties" that are liable to persist.

If the UK was to use Article 16 to suspend most controls on goods going from GB to NI, that could cause significant problems for Ireland.

It could reopen questions about goods being controlled as they cross the Irish border or as they leave Ireland for the rest of the EU.

Taoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin has said it would be "irresponsible and reckless" for the UK to trigger Article 16.

Meanwhile, a survey has indicated that the protocol is not a top priority for most people across Northern Ireland, including unionists.

Unionist parties in Northern Ireland oppose the protocol, as they say it undermines their place in the UK.

It ranked fourth on the list of priorities behind health, Covid recovery and the economy.

The survey also shows the majority of the 1,000 people asked would support remaining in the UK if a border poll was held "tomorrow".

Commissioned by the University of Liverpool, the survey questioned people across all of Northern Ireland's council areas last month.

Of those who responded, 39% described themselves as unionist, 26% nationalist and 33% neither unionist or nationalist

The survey indicated that just over 9% said the protocol was their biggest concern.

When broken down, just 12% of unionists said the protocol was the important issue for them.

More than 60% also said they wanted the Stormont Executive to remain in place until the Assembly election in May.

When asked how they would vote in a border poll "tomorrow", 58% of those surveyed supported remaining in the UK, with 29% voting for a united Ireland.