NI Protocol: 'the problem is solvable' Truss verdict on visit to Lisburn
Liz Truss said today (Wednesday) that there are no plans to axe the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Speaking during a visit to Northern Ireland, the Foreign Secretary confirmed her attention to "fix the issues" around the Protocol.
"What we have been clear about is the protocol is causing political instability, so we haven't seen the Northern Ireland Executive in operation since February," Ms Truss said.
"What we need to do is to make sure that as well as protecting north-south trade, we are protecting east-west trade.
"I have come today with practical solutions, making sure that we are sharing commercial data with the EU to protect the Single Market, at the same time as making it easier to trade goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
"This problem is solvable, we want a negotiated solution but we are not prepared to allow it to drift. I am meeting companies from a variety of sectors in making sure our solution works for all companies in Northern Ireland.
"Everybody in Northern Ireland recognises our issue is with the protocol, we are not talking about scrapping the protocol, what we are talking about is fixing the issues so we can protect north-south trade whilst at the same time making east-west trade easier."
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the Government wants to remove the "customs bureaucracy" whilst at the same time protecting the EU Single Market.
Ms Truss made the comments while visiting a haulage company in Lisburn.
"I am in Northern Ireland to talk about our solution on customs, putting in place a red and green lane to make sure that we remove customs bureaucracy for those goods that are travelling from Great Britain into Northern Ireland, so we can restore the balance between the communities and restore the working of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement," Ms Truss said.
"We have had months of negotiations with the EU and our preference remains a negotiated solution but what we cannot allow is for this situation to drift.
"We do have difficulties with companies, and I have met them before in Northern Ireland and am meeting more today, of being able to get goods into Northern Ireland, there is an issue with costs, there is an issue with communities not feeling respected in Northern Ireland.
"It's very important that we deal with these practical issues, how we remove the customs bureaucracy whilst at the same time protecting the EU Single Market to resolve this situation."