LONDON, 11 October 2021, (TON): According to a draft speech released on Sunday “Britain is set to ratchet up pressure on the EU this week to agree an overhaul of the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.”

Britain’s Brexit minister David Frost will use a speech in Lisbon to say there must be “significant change” to the agreement, known as the Northern Ireland protocol, a day before the EU is expected to issue its own proposals to break the impasse.

The protocol was negotiated as part of Britain’s divorce from the EU to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland by effectively keeping the province in the EU single market.

But it has caused an outcry among Northern Ireland’s pro-UK unionists who argue the arrangement creates a trade border between Great Britain and the province, undermining its constitutional position in the union.

Among the most contentious side effects an EU ban on British sausages and chilled meats being imported into Northern Ireland, dubbed the “sausage war” because of the UK’s post-Brexit break with EU food hygiene laws.

Frost, who was Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator in the run-up to Britain’s departure, has spent much of his time in cabinet since trying to convince the EU to unravel the withdrawal agreement he was pivotal in delivering.