British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants his party and his electorate to agree with the EU in the years-long dispute over Brexit rules for Northern Ireland. “Brexit is still not fully implemented and I want to bring this to an end,” Sunak said in an interview with the Sunday Times. “I’ll be there all weekend trying to finish it. We’re giving everything we have.”
An agreement with the EU on changes to the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol is reportedly imminent and could be presented in the UK Parliament on Monday.
The Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the Brexit Treaty. It stipulates that the customs border between Great Britain and the EU runs in the Irish Sea. This was to prevent border controls between British Northern Ireland and the EU member Republic of Ireland having to be introduced. Otherwise it was expected that the conflict about unifying the two parts of Ireland would flare up again. But the controls are also creating difficulties for intra-British trade, and Union’s Protestant supporters in Northern Ireland feel cut off from Britain.
Crucial to the success of an agreement is therefore whether Sunak will manage to get the largest Protestant Unionist party in Northern Ireland, the DUP, behind him. In protest against the protocol, they have been blocking the formation of a government in the British part of the country for months.
Sunak also agreed on the expected breakthrough in various guest contributions at the weekend. “We need to make Brexit work for the whole of the UK,” he wrote in the conservative Telegraph. According to the newspaper, there is already resistance in his own cabinet and Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker is already considering his resignation. In the tabloid Sun, Sunak assured readers that he would remain a staunch Brexiteer despite his alleged compromise with the EU.
Interview in the “Sunday Times” Guest article by Rishi Sunak in the “Telegraph” Guest article by Rishi Sunak in the “Sun”
