The vice-president of the European Union, Maros Sefcovic, is due to meet British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Brussels today (December 15) as talks resume on issues surrounding the Northern Ireland protocol.

The EU launched legal action against the UK in June, when the UK planned to bring a bill, altering parts of the protocol that were agreed during the Brexit deal signed at the end of 2020, to parliament.

A grace period had been agreed between the UK and EU on delaying full customs checks at the Northern Ireland border, but the UK government has signaled its intentions to delay imposing full checks, thus breaching the agreement.

The EU Commission is alleging that the UK has:

The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill references four principal legislative changes to the previously agreed Brexit arrangements.

These are: