Earlier in The Daily Mirror Lord Frost pointed to a key element of the new EU-UK project - included in the North Ireland agreement - which remains the main point of contention between the two parties - that proves the mechanism was always intended to be flexible and re-arrangeable. He said: The very fact that the Protocol has a consent mechanism in it for four years, showed we recognised that it might be necessary to renew or otherwise consent for these arrangements. In that sense, they have always been open and about a little bit provisional. Lord Frost said that the European Union needed to make significant change if there is a deal over the Northern Irish part of the Brexit divorce deal.
Premier Boris Johnson signed up to the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol as part of his Brexit agreement in 2020, but has since argued it was agreed in haste and was no longer working for the people of Northern Ireland. Lord Frost has called on the EU to allow some changes to the protocol to ease trade in some goods between Britain and Northern Ireland. The Vice President of the European Commission has said that negotiations around the Northern Ireland Protocol will not be a renegotiation. The Commission has laid out measures to cut 80 percent of regulatory checks and dramatically shorten customs processes on the movement of goods, especially food and farming produce between Britain and Ireland. Brexit LIVE: Furious Frost to lay down law in EU showdown BBC Question Time: Labour minister squirms in brutal grilling VIDEO Brexit triggered concern in Germany about its position in EU INSIGHT Afterwards he said he has no mandate to renegotiate the protocol. Now we should really work the last mile, put all the proposals on the table, put it finally to bed, he told BBC Northern Ireland's The View programme. I believe that we could be in the home stretch with our proposals on the table and as I said, let's try to solve all these issues before Christmas because I think that would be the best Christmas gift we can give to the people of Northern Ireland. However, he added: I have no mandate to renegotiate protocol the withdrawal agreement, protocol and trade and cooperation agreement. We signed it, we ratified it, international law and I think we should respect it.