The Foreign Secretary, who took over negotiations from Lord Frost last month, is hoping that there is a quick end to the row over the Brexit mechanism. She will meet the European Commission's vice president Maros Sefcovic next Thursday for the first time since taking over her new role.
South West Norfolk MP will host her counterpart for dinner at Chevening House, her grace-and- favour home, to present her plan to ease the frictions in the discussions. The negotiations will continue the following day as the pair attempt to break out of the deadlock that has stalled talks. The EU presented its own ideas in October, with the UK putting forward proposals to make changes to the Protocol in July 2021. Lord Frost immediately began negotiations to find a solution, threatening to trigger Article 16 to suspend the Protocol if an agreement is not found by the middle of November.
The talks kept being extended and broke up before Christmas without agreement. The Government needs to take swift action to suspend the treaty if a deal can't be reached, according to unionists and Brexiteers. They claim the Protocol in its current form is undermining the UK's internal market due to restrictions on trade from Britain to Northern Ireland. They warn that the frictions could cause tensions and undermine the Good Friday peace agreement. Ms Truss is going to warn the EU that they will not hesitate to take action if a compromise is not found. A Foreign Office source told The Telegraph: Liz invited Sefcovic over at the earliest opportunity and wants to go full speed ahead with talks. READ MORE: Britain slashes EU red tape to become world leader in AI technology.
Critics of Lord Frost accused him of ruining the UK's relationship with the EU in his approach to negotiations. Ms Truss has set herself the ambitious task of solving the Protocol row while simultaneously rebuilding relations with Brussels. The former Brexit minister resigned in December due to concerns about the current direction of travel of government. He warned against coercive measures to tackle coronaviruses as he said the UK needed to learn to live with Covid.