plans? and again, i don t think you can wait till the autumn for that. you re on first name terms with the chancellor. the chancellor of the exchequer? i mean, you know, we don t always agree but we row well. do you text? yeah, not not so much. i mean, if you re hoping to uncover something, i have once texted him to say thank you for the meeting. did he reply? he said, you re welcome. that s quite nice. so let s talk about the northern ireland protocol because liz truss, the foreign secretary, did that statement in parliament a couple of days ago saying, oh, we still want to negotiate some changes to it with the eu, but if we can t do that, we ll pass legislation that willjust rip up huge chunks of it. how do you feel about that move by liz truss? are you asking me as a northern irishman or as a business leader? well, presumably it s both at the same time, isn t it? i mean, or can you separate, are there two different a nswers ? well, in a sort of way there are, right. because look, i
that s quite nice. so let s talk about the northern ireland protocol because liz truss, the foreign secretary, did that statement in parliament a couple of days ago saying, oh, we still want to negotiate some changes to it with the eu, but if we can t do that, we ll pass legislation that willjust rip up huge chunks of it. how do you feel about that move by liz truss? are you asking me as a northern irishman or as a business leader? well, presumably it s both at the same time, isn t it? i mean, or can you separate, are there two different answers? well, in a sort of way there are, right. because look, i was getting very worried about a return of the brexit debate, right? you know, let s get brexit done, then let s make it undone in order that we can get it redone again and again. and that s bad news, right? at a time when we are dealing with cost of living, inflation and so on. i think the prime minister s piece for the belfast telegraph on monday indicated a far more serious, sensible
ground in northern ireland, we do need changes to the protocol. that is the issue that as yet, and i have had numerous discussions with sefcovic about this, as yet there is no agreement for his mandate to change to include changes to the protocol. that is the fundamental issue. i am very, protocol. that is the fundamental issue. iam very, very protocol. that is the fundamental issue. i am very, very willing to have those discussions. i am seeing the irish foreign minister simon coveney later this week to have further discussions with we are very open to resolving these issues between the uk and eu but you need a real acknowledgement of what is happening on the ground in northern ireland and the fact the protocol does need to change. so ireland and the fact the protocol does need to change. ireland and the fact the protocol does need to change. so much for caettin does need to change. so much for getting brexit does need to change. so much for getting brexit done, does need to chan