UK could still invoke Article 16 over N.Ireland row with EU, says PM Johnson

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain does not rule out the possibility of invoking Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol if a disagreement with the European Union over how trade with the province operates cannot be resolved, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.

"The protocol is not working in the way that it needs to in order to guarantee the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. I don't believe things need to be that way. I think it could be worked differently, and we want our EU friends and partners to understand that," Johnson told lawmakers.

"We will continue to work with them to get them to see things in the way that people on both sides of the Irish Sea see them, but in the meantime ... we do not remove the possibility of invoking Article 16 to protect trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

(Reporting by Alistair Smout)