TALKS ON THE Northern Ireland Protocol continued today between the UK and EU in Brussels in the long-running post-Brexit dispute.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefocovic were scheduled for face-to-face talks as the two sides try to make progress to resolve the logjam.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said the meeting was part of the “ongoing engagement” between the senior politicians on the contentious trading arrangements that have created economic barriers on the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which were devised by the UK and EU as part of the Brexit deal, goods coming into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK are to be inspected at Northern Ireland ports and can then be moved around the island, rather than being checked between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The UK government and Northern Ireland unionists have since pushed back against the terms that were agreed upon.

Westminster is progressing controversial legislation that would empower ministers to unilaterally scrap the bulk of the arrangements without EU approval.

Cleverly welcomed the “important discussions” in Brussels.

“We are determined to find a solution to the protocol that, above all else, protects the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement,” he tweeted.

“Our teams continue to meet and I look forward to speaking again soon.”

In the House of Commons this week, Labour former minister Hilary Benn said: “We… read that the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is on ice while the negotiations continue. Can the Foreign Secretary assure the House that if an agreement with the EU is reached, and we all hope it will happen, that the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill will be dropped?

Cleverly replied: “The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill exists for a reason. The commitment that I made to Maros Sefcovic and the conversations that I had with him and with others is that we would not either artificially accelerate that process or artificially hinder or retard that process.”

“We have always said that our preferred option is through negotiations. We speak regularly, the tone is positive and I think that there is now an understanding that the concerns that we have raised and have been raised particularly by the unionist community in Northern Ireland are not confected, that they are real and that any agreement would need to address them.”