UK & EU reach new Brexit deal over NI, yet still ignores Scotland’s wishes

February 27, 2023

“Britain and the EU clinched a deal on Monday to settle their toxic dispute over Northern Ireland trading rules in a turning point after years of post-Brexit tensions. Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister, and Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, sealed the agreement in the shadow of Windsor Castle, with both talking of a “new chapter” in relations. Sunak and von der Leyen hope the deal to smooth trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK will end years of grim post-Brexit ties between London and Brussels. “We have made a decisive breakthrough,” Sunak said at a press conference with von der Leyen, as the two hailed an agreement to reform the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, dubbed “the Windsor framework”. The protocol was established to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. But it is hated by Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party because it created a trade barrier for goods travelling from Great Britain into the region, which remains part of the EU’s single market for goods. Sunak began the task of selling the new deal to Northern Ireland’s DUP and Eurosceptic Tory MPs on Monday, with his high-stakes gamble showing early signs that it could limit the size of a rebellion. Steve Baker, Northern Ireland minister and self-described “hard man of Brexit”, scotched rumours he might quit, calling the pact “a really great deal”. David Davis, former Brexit secretary, also backed the agreement. Boris Johnson, the former prime minister who agreed the protocol with Brussels, was not in the House of Commons to hear Sunak. His allies said he was considering how to respond to the deal. Sunak said MPs would “have a vote at the appropriate time”.

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/2017842b-eedd-4acd-91a9-22271bf8ddfa