UK seeks new post-Brexit deal with EU on Northern Ireland arrangements - China.org.cn

Britain's Brexit Minister David Frost said Wednesday that the country seeks to agree with the European Union (EU) through negotiations a new deal in arrangements covering Northern Ireland to smooth tensions over post-Brexit trade and politics.

Frost's statement in the British Parliament came after Britain and the EU agreed at the end of June to extend the grace period for another three months for chilled meat products coming from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. The light-touch checks under the grace period for supermarket products will expire at the end of September.

"Overall these discussions (with the EU) have not gone to the heart of the problem. Put very simply, we cannot go on as we are," Frost said while admitting "the difficulties we have in operating the Northern Ireland Protocol are now the main obstacle to building a relationship with the EU."