Brexit Secretary of State David Frost (right) watches UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left) sign the EU-UK Brexit deal on December 30, 2020 in London ( POOL / Leon Neal)
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss was chosen on Sunday to take over post-Brexit issues after the resignation of Secretary of State for Brexit David Frost, at the end of a particularly trying week for Boris Johnson.
Head of British diplomacy since September, Liz Truss, 46, will lead negotiations with the European Union on the controversial protocol governing specific customs arrangements in Northern Ireland, according to a press release from the British Prime Minister.
“Liz Truss will assume ministerial responsibility for relations with the European Union with immediate effect”, specifies the text.
European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said on Twitter that he “would continue to cooperate with the UK in the same constructive spirit”.
After first defending staying in the European Union during the 2016 referendum, this former Minister of Foreign Trade had changed her mind, explaining that she saw Brexit as a source of economic opportunities.
Liz Truss enjoys a strong popularity in the ranks of the conservative majority, to the point that her name regularly returns to succeed the Prime Minister.
Citing disagreements with the direction taken by Boris Johnson’s government, Brexit Secretary of State David Frost tendered his resignation on Saturday evening – precipitated by his revelation in the press – amid difficult negotiations with the EU over the implementation of the Northern Irish protocol were unsuccessful. They are due to resume in January.
– Boris Johnson “sorry” –
Two years after his electoral triumph over the promise to achieve Brexit, Boris Johnson finds himself surrounded by scandals and this week suffered a sling from his camp over measures against Covid-19, then the loss of a Conservative stronghold on the occasion of a by-election in England.
David Frost, then still British Secretary of State for Brexit, in Brussels on November 19, 2021 (AFP / JOHN THYS)
It is also facing a surge in Covid-19 cases, due to the Omicron variant.
In his resignation letter, David Frost cited the new restrictions to fight the coronavirus, the tax hike and the policy followed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 as the reason for his departure.
“You know my concerns about the current direction of things,” he wrote to Boris Johnson, stressing that with Brexit secured, “the challenge for the government now is to realize the opportunities it gives us. “.
Boris Johnson said he was “sorry” for the resignation of David Frost, expressing his gratitude for the work he has done.
Health Minister Sajid Javid told Sky News “to understand the reasons” which led David Frost, “a man of principle”, to leave.
– “Decisive moment” –
Former Northern Irish Prime Minister Arlene Foster at the British Conservative Party Congress in Manchester on October 3, 2021 (AFP / Oli SCARFF)
On Times radio, the former Northern Irish Prime Minister Arlene Foster, pushed to leave in April because considered too moderate, judged the departure of David Frost “very, very disappointing”, believing that he “understood” the problems created by the new post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland.
Labor deputy opposition leader Angela Rayner ruled on Twitter on Saturday evening that the government was “in total chaos precisely when the country is going through weeks of uncertainty.”
“@BorisJohnson is not up to the task. We deserve better than this buffoonery,” she added.
Holding a hard line against the EU, David Frost led the negotiations for the Brexit agreement for London and then its implementation, especially concerning the Northern Irish protocol. Created to avoid any land border which would risk weakening the peace agreement concluded in 1998 after three bloody decades, this text maintains the British province in the single market and the European customs union.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at a press conference on the Covid-19 vaccination in London on December 15, 2021 (POOL / Tolga Akmen)
The United Kingdom and the EU have been trying for several months to agree on the implementation of the text, effective since the beginning of the year. While David Frost has taken an inflexible stance in demanding that any recourse to European justice for the settlement of disputes be ruled out, the government recently seemed to soften its position on this matter.
“We had difficult relations, but we have always continued the Franco-British dialogue”, tweeted the French Minister for European Affairs Clément Beaune, greeting “with respect” David Frost. “It is time for the British government to rebuild a climate of trust with France and the EU, in the interest of all”.
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