Is Dominic Cummings about to derail the government’s plans for a new Northern Ireland protocol? That’s the concern inside government as Boris Johnson’s former adviser shows that he still has the ability to change the political weather from afar. On Tuesday night, there was renewed hope that a solution could be found between the UK and EU on the Northern Ireland protocol. David Frost’s speech in Lisbon was less confrontational than expected and had received cautious praise from diplomats for its more constructive passages. However, as the European Commission prepares to present its proposals for easing the current checks on businesses trading across the Irish Sea, a spanner has been thrown in the works in the form of Cummings.
Cummings says that the priority was to deliver Brexit with the ‘best option’ available at the time and then later ‘ditch’ the bits that they didn’t like
Johnson’s former aide has suggested that the government always planned to ‘ditch’ the protocol.
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