EU Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has urged UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to select a hardline Brexiteer as a replacement for Lord Frost, the UK cabinet minister who led Brexit negotiations and who recently resigned from the government.
McGuinness shared her thoughts on the subject during her appearance on RTE’s “This Week” programme when asked if Lord Frost is likely to be replaced by a hardliner.
"If the priority is simply to appease hardliners in [Boris Johnson's] Conservative Party, I think we are in a very bad place," she said. "If people [in London] are of the view that there will be no compromise, then there will be no progress and that's untenable."
"I would hope that the mood would be towards compromise and problem-solving, not Conservative Party politics, which I am afraid takes the eye off the real issues which will drag out this into next year, which is not good for Northern Ireland,” she added.
She expressed hope that said replacement “will come to the table, fully briefed, understanding our point of view and acknowledging that we have made significant steps towards resolving these issues and the UK has not."
Early on Sunday, the UK government released Lord Frost’s resignation letter, in which he stated that he's departing because "Brexit is now secure."
According to MailOnline, a senior government source said it was the introduction of “Plan B” COVID measures that prompted Lord Frost’s exit, though it apparently was “just the final straw after months of growing discontent over tax rises and the staggering cost of 'net zero' environmental policies,” as the media outlet put it.