Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of the negotiations with the Vice President of the European Commission on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.

We are currently engaged in technical discussions with the Commission in order fully to understand their proposals. We welcome the EU’s recognition that there are serious problems with the Protocol which need to be solved. But it’s clear there is still a substantial gap between our two positions in areas such as governance, customs and SPS.

We hope to settle these issues consensually and reach a positive outcome through negotiations. However, we have been clear that if an agreement cannot be reached Article 16 is a legitimate safeguard provision, which we are prepared to invoke if necessary.