UK PM Johnson's spokesman: Way NI Protocol is operating is unsustainable

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman told reporters on Thursday that Johnson had spoken to EU Commission Head von der Leyen and urged the EU to look at the proposals on the Northern Ireland Protocol seriously, per Reuters.

Additional takeaways

"Our position remains that we are looking for significant changes to the existing mechanisms."

"We didn't expect the EU to take such a purist, maximalist approach to the protocol."

"PM told von der Leyen that the way the protocol was operating was unsustainable, solutions cannot be found within it."

"We are not calling for the scrapping of the protocol at this time, there will always need to be a tailored treaty for Northern Ireland."

Market reaction

These comments don't seem to be having a meaningful impact on market sentiment and the UK's FTSE 100 Index was last seen posting small daily gains at 7,002.