Brexit: EU’s Sefcovic offers to reduce NI border controls to ‘couple of lorries a day’

GB-NI trade border can be almost ‘invisible’, says European Commission VP in bid to restart talks

European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic (REUTERS)

The EU’s Brexit chief Maros Sefcovic has said he wants to reduce physical customs checks across the Irish Sea to just a few lorries a day in a bid to break the impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The European Commission vice president urged Liz Truss to restart post-Brexit negotiations and drop her highly-controversial plan to override protocol unilaterally with new legislation.

Mr Sefcovic said the EU was willing to compromise, but Brussels’ proposals to cut protocol checks set out last October should be the basis for resuming talks.