U.K.’s Sunak tries to win over sceptics to his Brexit deal
The Hindu
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is in Belfast to sell his landmark agreement with the European Union to its toughest audience
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak travelled to Belfast on Tuesday to sell his landmark agreement with the European Union to its toughest audience: Unionist politicians who fear post-Brexit trade rules are weakening Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.
The U.K. and the 27-nation EU announced on Monday that they had struck a deal to resolve a dispute over Northern Ireland trade that has vexed relations since the U.K. left the bloc in 2020. The agreement will ease customs checks and other hurdles for goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. that were imposed after Brexit to maintain an open border between the north and its EU neighbour, the Republic of Ireland.
Also Read | Northern Ireland confronts compromise in post-Brexit deal
The deal, dubbed the “Windsor Framework,” was hailed by London and Brussels as a breakthrough. But Northern Ireland’s British unionist politicians have yet to give it their blessing. Their support is key to restoring Northern Ireland’s semi-autonomous government, which has been toppled by the trade feud, leaving 1.9 million people without a functioning administration.
Mr. Sunak told the BBC the deal was “a huge step forward for the people of Northern Ireland” and he was confident politicians there would support it.
The Democratic Unionist Party, which had governed alongside Irish nationalists Sinn Fein in the power-sharing administration, walked out of the government a year ago to protest the trade rules and has refused to return until they are scrapped or substantially rewritten. Under Northern Ireland’s political system, power is shared between Irish nationalists and British unionists, and neither side can govern without the other.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said on Tuesday that the party would “take our time” to pore over the details of the deal before delivering its verdict.
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