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Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shops, the Spectators' Daily Politics Podcast. I'm Isabel Harbman

and I'm joined by Katie Balls and James Forsyth. Brexit Minister Lord Frost and his counterpart

Marash Sefkovich have had their meeting today to discuss issues around the Northern Ireland

Protocol. James, how has it gone? I think it didn't end in either man walking out

at the meeting, but I think that's, you probably can't say much more for it than that.

Afterwards in a press conference, Mara Sashkovich said that, you know, the EU's patients is wearing

very, very thin. Arlene Foster, who is still the first minister of Northern Ireland for another few

days, said that the EU's approach was classic EU, kind of legalism with no understanding of a

situation in Northern Ireland, and praised David Frost would have been very robust in response,

which is diplomatic speak for a row. And so I think that we are no closer to a solution

than we were before the two sides met. And I think that we are no closer to a solution than we were before the two sides met.

And I think the essential problem is this. The essential problem is the EU say, you signed up to this.

The UK says, this is unworkable and can't maintain support of the unionist community in Northern Ireland

and is therefore going to

end up undermining the Good Friday Agreement and that the protocol was meant to strike a balance

between respecting both the Good Friday Agreement and the single market and the UK's argument

is that in its implementation it is skewing way too far towards the single market and forgetting about the Good Friday Agreement.

I personally think that the fundamental challenge for the EU side on this is, I think you can say it's almost like a Doug Beattie test for the protocol.

Doug Beattie is the new leader of the Ulster Unionist Party in Norman Ireland.

He is a more moderate and inclusive unionist politician.

...