British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is meeting Northern Ireland politicians on Friday (February 17) as a flurry of diplomacy fueled expectations that a deal to improve the post-Brexit trading arrangements for the province could be finalized within days.
Sunak told Northern Ireland’s Social Democratic and Labour Party that a deal with the European Union over post-Brexit trading arrangements governing the province was not yet done
One European Union diplomat earlier said it appeared a deal to revise the Northern Ireland protocol, agreed when Britain left the bloc to avoid a hard border with EU member Ireland, was close but not complete.
A separate meeting in Brussels on Friday between British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and EU Brexit chief Maros Sefcovic would prepare for a possible rapid conclusion of weeks of intense talks, the diplomat said.
The meetings in Belfast with the region’s main 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 DUP, Northern Ireland’s largest pro-British party, is particularly crucial after it boycotted the region’s devolved parliament in protest at the protocol.
