Brexit fury: Truss urged to invoke Article 16 NOW and escape 'desperate EU chancers'

LIZ TRUSS has been warned she must invoke Article 16 now to escape pointless negotiations with the European Union, as the bloc's bureaucrats have been labelled "desperate chancers with a punishment agenda".

EU unimpressed over Liz Truss’s post-Brexit threats

The furious outburst comes after Lord Frost exposed how the EU is "invested in Brexit failing" and accused some of its officials of ongoing bad faith. The UK's former Brexit minister, who resigned from his role last month, told The Daily Telegraph: "While I was in those [Brexit] negotiations, I often felt we weren’t being taken seriously, that the EU didn’t look on us as an equal negotiating partner, but as a kind of province or territory in which they expected to exercise exceptional influence, one way or another. That’s not how we saw it – and I wasn’t happy about it.

"I think the atmosphere is gradually improving, as certain people move on. But a lot of the EU is invested in Brexit failing."

Lord Frost also added that under the Northern Ireland Protocol, the Northern Ireland Assembly has the right to vote in four years’ time as to whether or not existing arrangements should continue.

But the threat from the UK to trigger Article 16 - the safeguard mechanism allowing one side to unilaterally suspend the rules of the treaty if a deal cannot be agreed upon - is still on the table, and this has been repeated by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

Express.co.uk readers are demanding Ms Truss, who is now in charge of Brexit talks with the EU, gets tough with the bloc, invokes Article 16 now and walks away from negotiations.

brexit liz truss article 16

Brexit news: Liz Truss has been told to get tough with the EU and trigger Article 16 (Image: GETTY)

brexit lord frost

Brexit news: Lord Frost lashed out at the EU (Image: GETTY)

Old School1 raged: "Invoke Article 16 and walk away from pointless 'negotiations' with desperate chancers who have a punishment agenda."

LoveJaguars said: "It just strengthens the necessity for the UK to get as far away from the EU as quickly as possible.

"There are much more affable people to be trading with outside of the Brussels bloc."

Fellow Express.co.uk reader hindsight wrote: "It's pretty obvious that the EU needs the UK to fail.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson LIVE: 'Net closes further' as No10 panics

brexit uk eu talks

Brexit news: Liz Truss and Maros Sefcovic held crunch talks last week (Image: GETTY)

"It doesn't know how to handle a strong economy on its border and it also wants to discourage other members from thinking of leaving.

"It is, and always will be, extremely protectionist - it's the nature of the beast.

"If the UK wants to continue to be successful, it must look elsewhere other than the EU, so these will be difficult times, but well worth the effort."

The EU has also been warned it could be in for a nasty surprise if Boris Johnson is replaced as Prime Minister by a hard Brexiteer who could take an even tougher line.

DON'T MISS
'It may not be a lot of money for Gary Lineker' - Michael Grade [VIDEO]
UK to ban milk, ketchup and mayonnaise products in new crackdown [LATEST]
Portillo on exactly what Tories are calculating to decide Boris's fate [INTERVIEW]

brexit article 16

Brexit news: Liz Truss has warned the possibility of invoking Article 16 remains on the table (Image: GETTY)

brexit ireland

Brexit news: Ireland's Simon Coveney wants a deal on the Protocol by the end of February (Image: GETTY)

Express.co.uk reader Joe Bloggs warned: "Next PM will be a hard Brexiteer if the Tories want to win the next general election.

"The EU are going to love it. What goes around comes around and for the EU it's a slap in the face with a wet cod."

Last week, Ms Truss held talks with EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic in London as the two sides desperately try to find a solution over issues relating to post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland.

But Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he wants to see an agreement on the Protocol reached by the end of February.

He said the latest meeting between the UK and EU marked a "reset" in their relationship, which is now "in a better place than we've seen for a while".

brexit timeline

Brexit news: Five key moments that led to Brexit (Image: EXPRESS)

Mr Coveney said: "From my conversations with both sides, I think that process will be a very serious one.

"I think in people's minds, really, we would like to have, if possible, these issues resolved by the end of February, so that the elections in Northern Ireland can move ahead without being dominated by the Protocol issues, right the way to polling day.

"Elections in the North are often polarising enough affairs without having the added complexity and tension around the Protocol and its implementation.

"So I think everybody is conscious of their responsibility in terms of trying to bring some stability and certainty to Northern Ireland in the context of Brexit, and the Northern Ireland Protocol."

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?