London, November 11 (BNA) British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Thursday he is pleased with the government’s progress in resolving the long-running post-Brexit trade dispute with the European Union over Northern Ireland.
Technical talks recently resumed for the first time in seven months over the Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the Brexit deal that imposed checks on some goods moving into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK due to the county’s open land border with the EU member. Ireland, Reuters reports.
“We are all aware that the protocol has a real impact on the ground,” Sunak told reporters at the British Irish Council summit in northwest England, the first time a British prime minister has attended the semi-annual meeting in 15 years.
“I have discussed this with (Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin), and we had a very positive meeting, and what I want to do is find a negotiated solution, preferably,” he said.
“And I’m happy with the progress we’re making in these early days in this job, and my focus is trying to find a solution here.”
A Sunak spokesman added that the prime minister told Martin that any agreement would have to resolve the full range of issues caused by the protocol, but he hoped for flexibility and pragmatism.
Perceptions that the Protocol was undermining Northern Ireland’s standing in the UK angered many trade unionists and led to a boycott by the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of the regional power-sharing government (DUP).
Martin, who met his British counterpart for the first time since Sunak’s appointment last month, said he would welcome giving time and space to advance the negotiations and allowing workable solutions.
“People and businesses in Northern Ireland have made clear that they want agreed solutions to protocol issues and now is the time to do so,” Martin said in a statement.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said a redrafting of the agreement is possible by the end of the year if there is a political will on both sides to do so.