- Published
Brexit minister Lord Frost has reportedly resigned from Boris Johnson's government.
Lord Frost led the UK's negotiations over the EU Withdrawal Agreement and Northern Ireland Protocol.
The Mail on Sunday, which first reported the news , said he handed Mr Johnson his resignation a week ago.
He resigned over the "political direction" of the government including the introduction of stricter Covid curbs in England, the paper said.
The Mail on Sunday said Lord Frost would leave on good terms and had been persuaded to stay in his role until January.
It comes after a week where the prime minister suffered a by-election defeat with the Conservatives losing the previously safe seat of North Shropshire - which the party had held for nearly two centuries - to the Liberal Democrats.
He also endured the biggest rebellion of his premiership so far when many of his own MPs voted against the government over the introduction of so-called Plan B curbs in England.
A total of 99 Conservatives voted against the government , but the measures - including Covid passes at larger venues - passed by a majority of 243 thanks to Labour support.
Lord Frost had most recently been engaged in negotiations with the EU over post-Brexit arrangements.
This included elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol, agreed by the UK and EU in 2019, that allows goods to cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland without checks.
Northern Ireland's former First Minister Arlene Foster said news of Lord Frost's resignation was "enormous for those of us who believed he would deliver for NI".
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said the news suggested the government was "in total chaos right when the country faces an uncertain few weeks".
Layla Moran, the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson, said: "Even the prime minister's once-loyal supporters are now abandoning him, just as lifelong Conservative voters are switching in their droves to the Liberal Democrats."
Related Topics
-
- Published
- 1 day ago
-
- Published
- 12 October
-
- Published
- 8 November
-
- Published
- 1 day ago
-
- Published
- 22 hours ago
from Via PakapNews