Frost throws ECJ spanner in works on Northern Ireland protocol

Analysis: minister's pre-emptive response to EU offer leaves planned talks looking potentially futile

Before the unveiling on Wednesday of a package of proposals from the EU for Northern Ireland's post-Brexit arrangements designed to becalm inflamed tensions and unblock its trade with the rest of the UK, David Frost, the prime minister's tough-talking Brexit minister, has thrown a spanner in the works.

In a UK government command paper published in July, Lord Frost had laid out a series of changes that he believed needed to be considered. One of those had been the role of the European court of justice (ECJ) in enforcing EU law in Northern Ireland and at the regulatory border with the rest of the UK.