BBC: DUP's Poots To Advance Paper On NI Protocol By 'End Of Jan'

Stephen Nolan at BBC Radio Ulster tweets: "Letter seen by Nolan Show in which Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots vows to bring a paper before the Executive “not later than the end of January” on Irish Sea border checks", with screenshot of said letter.

• Poots is a senior figure within the anti-Northern Ireland protocol Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which governs as part of the devolved power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland. The party has previously threatened to support a unilateral disapplication of the protocol under Article 16 rules in order to remove and customs checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britian.
• Colum Eastwood, MP for Foyle and head of the Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) stated that Poots' letter is "a legal stunt" and that, "there's a responsibility on this DUP Minister and Executive as a whole to implement international agreements"
• The last month has seen the resignation of the UK's chief negotiator with the EU, Lord Frost, and his replacement with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who will now lead talks with the European Commission's Maros Sefcovic. The two are due to meet next week in an effort to make progress on resolving the NI protocol issue.