Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis Speaks to T&G on NI Protocol, Matt Hancock and More

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has told Times Radio the Government has not heard from the EU about an extension to the NI Protocol grace period which is due to expire next week.

Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn and Caroline Wheeler on T&G on Sunday, he said:

We have not yet formally heard back from the EU. They need to come back to us and hopefully they'll come back in a positive way. There are soundings, and we've seen tweets from certain journalists seeming to say it's going to be a positive response, but we've not formally heard from the EU yet.

I'm optimistic but as you know I'm always cautiously optimistic around these things. But we've put in and asked for that extension. We think that's a logical sensible thing...We all need to be pragmatic and flexible and our point is we've heard a lot about wanting to be pragmatic. Well let's now see that in action. It's absolutely farcical that people in Belfast, Ballymena, Portrush, Londonderry/Derry may not be able to get their chilled meats from across GB like they always have done. There are no risks to the Single Market. So we think we've put forward a sensible proposal, something actually quite moderate, while we work out a long term solution. And I'm hopeful over the next few days of those technical discussions that we'll be able to get that secured with the EU.

On Matt Hancock and concerns about the leaking of CCTV images from the Department of Health:

I work on the basis and I have done for a long time that everything we do and say can end up in the public domain in one way or another. But the reality is the Department of Health needs to look into this. There is a concern that ministers working with the Civil Service need to be confident that you can have the free flow of discussion that you need to have when you're developing policy when you're working things though. So until you can have the confidence to have that private conversation, you have to be able to have it. I'm sure people understand that. So the Department of Health I'm sure will be conducting an investigation to understand how this video image was able to get out in the public domain in the first place.

And he tried to reassure the public over concerns about the recruitment of aides such as Gina Coladangelo:

In my experience the system does work. The Department of Health has been very clear. They've gone public already (to say that) the system was followed and done properly. And I can assure you the only person I would ever kiss in my office, if she comes in, is my wife.

And on the issue of vexatious prosecutions of Northern Ireland veterans, Mr Lewis insisted there will be movement before the summer recess:

The Irish government has joined us in a process of talks over the next few weeks with a view to legislating later this year, in the autumn. I want to be able to come forward before we break for summer recess with an outline of what the Government is looking at for parliamentarians and the public more widely. This is a very complex area. It's actually about helping Northern Ireland move forward, making sure the victims' information recovery, truth and reconciliation are actually the heart of what we do. And we absolutely will deliver on that manifesto pledge from the Prime Minister.

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