LAST UPDATE | 19 Dec 2021
THE UK’S FOREIGN Secretary Liz Truss is to take over responsibility for the UK’s future relationship with the EU, Downing Street has said, following the resignation of Brexit minister David Frost.
Frost resigned with “immediate effect” on Saturday night, having previously agreed with the Prime Minister he would leave his job in January.
Citing “the current direction of travel” of the Government, as well as fears over “coercive” Covid measures and the wish for the UK to become a “lightly regulated, low-tax” economy, Frost’s departure was described as a “watershed moment” in what had been an extremely damaging week for the PM.
Downing Street said Truss would take over ministerial responsibility for the UK-EU relationship, and would lead negotiations to resolve issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Chris Heaton-Harris will move from the Department for Transport to become Europe minister and will deputise for Truss when needed.
‘The issues do not change’
Earlier, European Commissioner and Irish MEP Mairéad McGuinness said Frost’s departure was a surprise, but it doesn’t change the substance of the issues of the Protocol: “The name will change but the issues will not.”
“The concerns I will have is that Brexit was the result of divisions within the Tory party and from what I’m reading, those divisions haven’t gone away,” she told RTÉ’s This Week programme.
She said that in recent weeks there had been a shift from the UK Government on the oversight of the European Court of Justice, which Frost’s negotiating team had been aggressively pushing for during talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
David Frost, who has led negotiations with the EU, is reported to have handed in his resignation letter to Boris Johnson last week with an agreement to leave in January.
But in a letter to the PM released yesterday evening, he said that he was “disappointed that this plan has become public this evening and in the circumstances I think it is right for me to write to step down with immediate effect”.
David Frost thanked Johnson and said “Brexit is now secure”, but he said: “The challenge for the government now is to deliver on the opportunities it gives us.
Frost told Johnson he had “concerns about the current direction of travel”, with the government’s decisions on coronavirus regulations and tax rises reported to be among those issues, as well as a possible u-turn on triggering Article 16.
He also said he was sad the unlocking from Covid restrictions had not proved “irreversible” as promised, and added: “I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere.”
And he expressed his wish that the UK would become a “lightly regulated, low-tax” country.
NEW
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) December 18, 2021
Lord Frost is now stepping down with immediate effect, not waiting until January as had been planned pic.twitter.com/v47z5n1DKE
In his reply, Johnson he was “very sorry” to have received his resignation.
Frost was appointed as Johnson’s so-called EU “sherpa” shortly after the British leader took office in July 2019, and became chief trade negotiator after helping to finalise last year’s Brexit divorce deal.
Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath told RTÉ’s This Week programme that the Irish Government isn’t expecting David Frost’s resignation to derail the progress on the Protocol that has been made over recent weeks.
“From our point of view in Ireland, our bottom lines remain unchanged: no hard border under any circumstances on the island of Ireland, protect the Good Friday Agreement at all costs, and also protect Ireland’s place at the heart of the European Single Market.”
He said that Northern Ireland had “the best of both worlds” under the Protocol, through access to markets in Great Britain and in the EU, adding: “We’re already seeing the economic dividend of that for the North, so we want those assets to be protected”.
Northern Ireland reaction
In Northern Ireland, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said David Frost’s departure was a bad sign for Johnson’s commitment to removing the Irish Sea border.
Donaldson said: “This government is distracted by internal strife, and Lord Frost was being frustrated on a number of fronts.
“We wish David well. We enjoyed a strong relationship with him and his team, but this raises more serious questions for the Prime Minister and his approach to the NI Protocol.”
David Frost had been tasked with finding a way to resolve issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol, which aims to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
The implementation of the Protocol has caused issues with customs, agrifood, trade, and medicines being sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Movement was found this week on medicines, but red lines remain for both sides, including for the UK the oversight role of the European Court of Justice.
David Frost said this week he expected negotiations with the EU to now run into 2022.
Stormont Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said Northern Ireland would not become “collateral damage in the Tory chaos”.
She tweeted: “David Frost negotiated Brexit of which a majority here rejected. He has undermined the Protocol since, which limits the damage of Brexit on our people and economy.
“We now need momentum in the talks to make it work better.
“The North will not be collateral damage in the Tory chaos.”
And Northern Ireland’s former first minister Arlene Foster described Frost’s resignation as “enormous”.
In a tweet, she said: “The resignation of Lord Frost from the Cabinet is a big moment for the Government but enormous for those of us who believed he would deliver for NI.”
Tory party revolt
Boris Johnson is already reeling from a rebellion by 100 of his MPs in a parliamentary vote over coronavirus measures and the loss of a 23,000-majority seat in a by-election – as well as continued allegations over parties in Whitehall during lockdown restrictions..
Prominent Brexiteer Tory Andrew Bridgen told Times Radio that Frost’s departure was a “devastating blow for the Government and the Prime Minister” and suggested that many Conservative colleagues would be considering the PM’s future over Christmas.
In a tweet, he added Johnson was “running out of time and out of friends to deliver on the promises and discipline of a true Conservative government”.
He said: “Lord Frost has made it clear, 100 Conservative backbenchers have made it clear, but most importantly so did the people of North Shropshire.”
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said: “This shock resignation is a sign of the chaos and confusion at the heart of this Conservative government.
“The rats are fleeing Boris Johnson’s sinking ship as he lurches from crisis to crisis.
“Even the Prime Minister’s once-loyal supporters are now abandoning him, just as lifelong Conservative voters are switching in their droves to the Liberal Democrats.
“At a time we need strong leadership to get us through the pandemic, we instead have a weak Prime Minister who has lost the support of his allies and the trust of the British people.”
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