Lord Frost provides update on Northern Ireland protocol

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But 19 percent of voters thought Boris and Lord Frost should not rip up the protocol, and about one percent did not know what to think. One reader, Obique, said: “Invoke Article 16 and let the EU resolve the Northern Irish border issues, as they are the party refusing to review the current issues arising from the protocol. Why should the UK internal market suffer, as it clearly is, in support of the EU internal market?”

Another reader said: “Just tear the Northern Irish protocol apart and throw all of that rubbish in the shredder.”

Williamlw commented: “The Brexit Disaster is coming home to roost.

“There is no solution… and will only lead to a united Ireland.”

Sir Realist added: “Don’t bother with Article 16, just inform them [EU] that the UK is withdrawing from all agreements and going WTO (World Trade Organisation).

“Then concentrate on other areas of the world and the Commonwealth regarding trade until the EU can be reasonable without the bitterness.”

The political debate around the Northern Ireland protocol has been a pervading issue since the very first Brexit talks.

So what will it mean in real-term impacts if Article 16 is triggered?

Article 16 is a safeguard written into the Northern Ireland protocol agreement which gives both the UK and the EU an emergency cord option to suspend the protocol, if it has given rise to unintended adverse outcomes.

These are defined as “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade” in either territory.

Triggering Article 16 will mean that the UK and the EU will immediately enter talks through a joint committee to find ‘a commonly acceptable solution’ as a matter of urgency.

In exceptional circumstances, the UK can enact safeguarding measures to adapt trade passage in Northern Ireland straight away, but usually measures cannot be put in place until one month after the article is triggered.

Article 16 also allows the other party to take “proportionate rebalancing measures” to ensure rights under the Protocol remain balanced. All changes are then reviewed every three months until changes to the protocol can be agreed through re-negotiation.

So triggering Article 16 will likely send the UK and EU back to the drawing board and will force the EU to bend more towards the UK’s favour until a resolution can be made.

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When asked whether they think Northern Ireland will vote to leave the UK if the Irish sea border remains, Express.co.uk readers were divided, 34 percent said they will, 36 percent said they won’t, and 30 percent were not sure.

One reader said: “Tear up the protocol and if the Northern Irish choose to leave the UK, so be it.”

Over half (63 percent) of voters said Boris Johnson was wrong to push through the Northern Ireland protocol in order to ‘get Brexit done’. A significant 30 percent of voters thought he did the right thing, whilst 7 percent were not sure if he was right or wrong to do so.

One reader commented that although Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed the protocol in order to finally secure a Brexit deal with the EU, and claimed he had never intended to stick to it and knew it would have adverse consequences for the Northern Irish people.

Another reader agreed: “It should never have been agreed in the first place.

“Johnson never had any intention of being bound by it and the EU has been determined to make things as difficult as possible.”

Miggy Mig added: “Clever strategy, as although he [Boris Johnson] knew that the Northern Ireland protocol was rubbish, he also knew that the agreement included a get-out clause that the UK could use at the appropriate time.

“So it bought the UK time, whilst delivering his Brexit pledge.

“Good strategic thinking in my view.”

Immediately after Lord Frost declared the Cabinet had “looked carefully at the safe-guard provided by article 16”, German member of the European Parliament David McAllister refuted his request for further negotiations.

He said: “The Protocol was painstakingly negotiated under high political pressure.

“It cannot be renegotiated – it is part of the solution of a problem that is Brexit.”

The overwhelming majority, 78 percent, of Express.co.uk poll participants said that the EU was not acting in good faith by refusing to renegotiate the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol. A total of 3,483 readers (28 percent), said they have been behaving in good faith, and one percent did not know whether they have or not.

One reader, Retsdon, said: “It’s not just that the EU won’t, it’s that the EU CAN’T allow a one-off back door into the Single Market.

“If it’s OK at the Ireland UK and Gibraltar Spain borders, how about at the other 40 borders that the EU has with 3rd party countries? Why shouldn’t Suriname or Ukraine have unregulated borders too with the EU?”

Express.co.uk polled 16,345 readers between 3.29pm July 22 and 9.20am July 26.

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