- Sunak will later hold a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to provide an update on post-Brexit trade rules.
- He will then make a statement in Parliament at 1830 GMT.
- The UK may have left the European Union on January 31, 2020, but the Northern Ireland Protocol has sparked ongoing disagreements ever since.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks on outside Number 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, on January 25, 2023.
Toby Melville | Portal
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday signed a new trade deal with the European Union to address problems caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol.
At a press conference shortly after the announcement, Sunak described the move as “the start of a new chapter” for the UK-EU relationship.
Sterling hit a session high of $1.2051 shortly after the announcement, up 0.9%. The euro was also up 0.7% to hit a session high of $1.0613.
Sunak is scheduled to make a statement in Parliament at 1830 GMT.
The UK may have left the European Union on January 31, 2020, but the Northern Ireland Protocol has sparked ongoing disagreements ever since. This part of the Brexit deal mandates controls on some goods moving into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK – with the new negotiations aiming to relax those rules.
Unionist parties in Northern Ireland – which is part of the UK unlike its neighbor Ireland, which is part of the EU – have argued that the controls provide an effective border in the Irish Sea. The protocol has also been criticized for jeopardizing the Good Friday Agreement – a long-running peace deal that ended three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.
Sunak’s government has requested changes to the deal signed by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has led calls from the hard-line Eurosceptic wing within the ruling Conservative Party to tear up the deal he negotiated.
Unlike his predecessors Johnson and Liz Truss, Sunak has taken a less combative approach to working with the EU, hoping to reach a solution to key issues related to Northern Ireland by lifting controls on goods being transported across the Irish Sea become, be relieved.
However, he must convince his own party to vote for a possible deal in Parliament.
Meanwhile, the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since February 2022 after the Democratic Unionist Party resigned in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Loyalist party warned again over the weekend that it would not force itself to accept a deal that didn’t meet its “red lines”.
This is breaking news and will be updated shortly.