UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is in Belfast to get in touch with the local political parties in the middle of inspecting a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol that could be discarded soon. However, a deal might be struck, next week in light of post-Brexit trades.
On Friday Morning, Sunak would meet the local party leaders before going to Germany to meet the EU leaders. James Clevery, Sunak’s Foreign Secretary, would visit Brussels as well to get in touch with the European Commission, including the European Commission Vice-President, Marcos Sefcovic, in light of the “engagement with the EU that is continuing and constructive communication to develop solutions that are workable for the people of Northern Ireland.”
After Brexit, the Northern Ireland Protocol was responsible for ascertaining the flow of goods across the Irish land border. The unionist parties like the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have been arguing that an instrumental trade border across the Irish sea would undermine Northern Ireland’s spot within the bounds of the United Kingdom.
A fresh Northern Ireland cannot be built without DUP’s support despite the latter standing second in May 2022 elections to Sinn Fein, a republican party.
PM Sunak’s visit and the upcoming meetings in Brussels would hint that the deal would finally be implemented. The government was to key the arrival of the PM to Belfast, not a matter of pomp or show.
UK and EU have been competing to race up to the finishing line now after endeavouring to make negotiations about making alterations to how it operates. PM has struggled to strike a deal on the protocol as he faces challenges from within the Conservative party.
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Thursday, “I do not doubt that the British prime minister wants to learn more about the various perspectives taken by the political parties in Northern Ireland over [the protocol] before further discussions over the weekend and the following week.”
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