UK’s Sunak hopeful of resolution to Northern Ireland trade row with EU
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday he was hopeful of reaching a resolution to a long-running dispute with the European Union on changing post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland.
Technical talks resumed in October for the first time in seven months on the Northern Ireland Protocol, the part of the Brexit deal that mandated checks on some goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this month she was “very confident” a positive conclusion was within reach, but there has so far been no breakthrough in the renewed negotiations.
“The way the protocol is being implemented is threatening Northern Ireland’s place in the union. I want to fix that and that’s what I’m getting engaged constructively with our European partners on and I’m hopeful that we can find resolution,” Sunak told the BBC on his first trip to Northern Ireland as premier.
“I want to make sure that we sit down with our European partners and allies find a way through this, make the reforms that we need to make and then get the (Northern Ireland) executive back up and running.”
