UK’s Sunak Tells Northern Ireland Parties’ No EU Protocol Deal Yet

By Staff, Agencies

Britain's Prime Minister told Northern Ireland politicians on Friday that a deal to improve the province's post-Brexit trading arrangements was not done yet, as a flurry of diplomacy fueled expectations that one could be finalized within days.

After weeks of intense talks between officials from Brussels and London, momentum has been building towards a deal to revise the Northern Ireland protocol, the trade rules agreed to avoid a hard border with EU member Ireland when Britain left the bloc.

One EU diplomat said it appeared a deal was close but not complete and that a meeting in Brussels on Friday between British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and EU Brexit chief Maros Sefcovic would prepare for a possible rapid conclusion.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met Northern Ireland politicians at a hotel on the outskirts of Belfast on Friday.

"He said the deal is not done yet. I think he is clear that lots of progress has been made," Colum Eastwood, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labor Party, told reporters.

Eastwood said detail from Sunak on the potential deal was "scant", a reaction shared by others. Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said he did not leave knowing much more than when he went in.

However, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said after her party's meeting that it appeared London and Brussels were "gradually moving" towards a potential deal.

The talks so far have been shrouded in secrecy, with some of the main players complaining that they have not seen any detail on the possible fixes to issues including the role of the European Court of Justice [ECJ] in Northern Ireland.

The two side have already reached agreement on data-sharing and, in a bid to reduce checks at Northern Ireland ports, the European Commission has said it was open to the idea of "express lanes" to separate goods bound only for Northern Ireland from products heading into Ireland or elsewhere in the EU.

The meetings in Belfast with the region's five largest political parties underlined the fact that political support for any deal will be key to whether London and Brussels can finally put their post-Brexit spat over Northern Ireland behind them.

Support from the Democratic Unionist Party [DUP], Northern Ireland's largest pro-British party, is particularly crucial after it boycotted the region's devolved parliament in protest at the protocol. A senior DUP member said on Thursday they had not seen any details of the possible deal.

Opinion polls have consistently shown a majority of Northern Irish voters back the idea of the protocol, but the imposition of checks on some goods arriving from the rest of the United Kingdom has sparked anger among many pro-British unionists who see it as undermining the union with Britain.

EU ambassadors will also convene for a "restricted" meeting later on Friday, an EU diplomat said, while Sunak was due in Munich on Saturday, where he could meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.