The Brexit minister, Lord Frost, has said suspending parts of the Northern Ireland protocol by triggering article 16 of the agreement with the EU is still a “very real option” but has indicated that he hopes a deal can be done by Christmas.
He has also given assurances during a visit to Northern Ireland that the UK is not trying to move border checks and controls from the Irish Sea to the Irish border.
Frost met the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, in Belfast on Tuesday night and will be meeting the Sinn Féin leader, Michelle O’Neill, on Wednesday morning.
“We very much hope that we’ll be able to bring those talks to a conclusion, that’s what we would most like to do. If we can’t, if they can’t be in agreement,
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