If the EU Wants Frost Gone, Then He Must Stay

With Lord Frost so obviously getting under the skin of EU bureaucrats, it is vital he stays in his role. The Prime Minister must continue his support for him and make sure there is no chink in our armour for the EU to exploit, argues Jayne Adye, Director of Get Britain Out. 

In the past week, stories have emerged of EU officials trying to persuade the Prime Minister and the UK media to try and remove former Chief Brexit Negotiator, Lord Frost, who has served as a cabinet minister in the role of Chief Negotiator of Task Force Europe since January 2020. Their reasoning is because Lord Frost takes a far more combative and ideological approach in negotiations, especially when compared to his predecessor in the role – Michael Gove.

This is a message which has continued in recent days following the meeting of the UK-EU Joint Committee on Wednesday, June 9th, after which European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic gave a lengthy press conference voicing his disapproval of the UK approach to talks, saying: "We are putting ideology ahead of easy solutions". This is a sentiment which the woefully uninformed President of the United States, Joe Biden, echoed ahead of the G7 Summit in Cornwall, asking only the UK to tone down our rhetoric over the Northern Ireland Protocol – without any reference to the EU making any compromises.

Once again, all this shows is how little the EU and President Biden have been paying attention since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister. They simply do not seem to recognise the only option the EU has proposed – signing up to dynamic alignment to EU regulations – would be an insult to the sovereignty of the United Kingdom. We are no longer an EU Member State and it is about time the EU – and Joe Biden – understood this!

We would remind the EU there could also be the easy option of a New Zealand/EU-style agreement on mutual recognition of standards, under which neither side would need to sign up to follow each other's regulations. However, the EU has dismissed this out of hand, despite UK regulations already being closer to the EU's rules than any other country in the world, meaning such an agreement would be the most logical solution while respecting national sovereignties.

But of course, to accept this as a possibility would completely sabotage the EU's attempts to paint the UK as the 'Mr Bad Guy' in these talks. Well, it will not work, and the PM must keep his support behind Lord Frost to present a united front which finally stands firm on the UK's red lines.

The EU's approach to dealing with Frost makes one thing clear to me, they thought Michael Gove was a pushover who would capitulate to their wishes. Now with Frost remaining strong, they are finding themselves facing a brick wall willing to call their bluff. I certainly know which kind of negotiator I would prefer to be advocating the priorities of Brexiteers.

For years we have seen compromise after compromise from the UK over Brexit, and undoubtedly the current situation over the Northern Ireland Protocol was an inevitability after the atrocious 'negotiations' (if you can call them that!) of former Prime Minister Theresa May meant the EU held a huge amount of leverage over the UK when it came to trying to replace the Irish Backstop. However, now the Prime Minister has a significant majority and we are officially out of the European Union, it is time to stop playing 'Mr Nice Guy' and finally push the EU to abandon their attempts to keep a regulatory grip over the United Kingdom.

It was welcome news to hear Boris has taken Lord Frost with him down to Cornwall to the G7 Summit, as no doubt there will be further attempts at interference by the EU and the United States. However, with Lord Frost there, we are more capable of intervening. Perhaps Lord Frost could even sit down with President Biden and explain the President's grave misunderstandings of both the Northern Ireland Protocol and the Good Friday Agreement.

With Lord Frost so obviously getting under the skin of EU bureaucrats, it is vital he stays in his role and continues with his current approach to the negotiations. If we change tack now after the EU's very public complaints, we will be abandoning any hope of turning back the tide towards the UK and allowing alternatives to the Northern Ireland Protocol to be discussed.

The EU has played games with the sensitive nature of the Irish Border issue ever since we voted to Leave in the 2016 EU Referendum. Now the consequences of this are coming home to roost. The UK will not be divided, nor will we stay under the control of the EU, so it is time Brussels and other world leaders like US President Joe Biden accept this and stopped trying to interfere in the United Kingdom's internal affairs.