Lord Frost Resigns As Brexit Minister
Lord Frost who led the UK’s negotiations over the EU Withdrawal Agreement and Northern Ireland Protocol has resigned.
In a letter to UK’s Prime minister, Lord Frost said that while “Brexit is now secure” he had “concerns about the current direction of travel”. it is said that he handed in his resignation a week ago, partly in disagreement with Covid curbs.
In his letter, Lord Frost, who attended cabinet, said his resignation would take “immediate effect” and spoke of his desire to see a “low-tax” economy.
“I hope we will move as fast as possible to where we need to get to: a lightly regulated, low-tax, entrepreneurial economy, at the cutting edge of modern science and economic change,” he said.
He added that measures to reopen the economy in July “did not prove to be irreversible” – adding: “I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere.”
Responding to Lord Frost, Mr Johnson said he should be “immensely proud of your historic service to this government and this country”.
It comes after a week where the prime minister suffered a by-election defeat with the Conservatives losing the previously safe seat of North Shropshire – which the party had held for nearly two centuries – to the Liberal Democrats.
He also endured the biggest rebellion of his premiership so far when many of his own MPs voted against the government over the introduction of so-called Plan B curbs in England.
A total of 99 Conservatives voted against the government, but the measures – including Covid passes at larger venues – passed by a majority of 243 thanks to Labour support.
Lord Frost had most recently been engaged in negotiations with the EU over post-Brexit arrangements.
This included elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol, agreed by the UK and EU in 2019, that allows goods to cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland without checks.
The protocol has been criticised by some businesses for making it more difficult to send goods to Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the resignation raised questions about the UK’s approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Sir Jeffrey said Mr Johnson “must now urgently decide which is more important – the Protocol or the stability of the political institutions”.
Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill, said momentum was needed in negotiations to make the Protocol work better.
“The North will not be collateral damage in the Tory chaos,” she added.
