NI deal will be sorted by Good Friday anniversary, Sunak promises Biden
Rishi Sunak has promised Joe Biden that a deal will be reached with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol by the time of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement next year.
It is understood the UK prime minister has doubts about whether a deal over the protocol, which regulates trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, can be reached by Christmas but is confident it will be achievable by April.
After a meeting between Sunak and Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Downing Street said they “looked forward to working together to take forward cooperation between the UK and the US on areas including trade, defence and upholding the Belfast (Good Friday) agreement”.
Biden “expressed his desire for a negotiated settlement that protects the Good Friday agreement, which the prime minister agreed with”, his press secretary said. “The prime minister did refer to that anniversary next year and ensuring that we get a negotiated settlement that protects the Good Friday agreement by then,.”
Downing Street described the first meeting between Biden and Sunak as “very friendly and warm”. Relations between the two countries have been strained in recent years over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland.
Pressed on whether the US president raised concerns about the Northern Ireland situation in general, Sunak’s press secretary said: “Yes.”
Biden, who is of Irish heritage, has been concerned about the threat to the Northern Ireland peace process posed by the impasse over the protocol.
The Democratic Unionist party is boycotting the devolved institutions in protest at the protocol and the party says it will not countenance a return to a Stormont executive until its economic barriers on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland are removed.
Last week, the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, extended by six weeks the deadline for Stormont parties to form an executive to 8 December, with the option of a further six-week extension.
The deadline to establish a new executive lapsed on 28 October, at which point the government assumed a legal responsibility to hold a fresh poll within 12 weeks, by 19 January.
On Tuesday, the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said there were still “big gaps” between the UK and the EU in the negotiations over the protocol.
He told Westminster’s European scrutiny committee that there was a “better atmosphere” between the UK and EU but goodwill and trust were “not sufficient”.
“Those ingredients are there … [but] … we shouldn’t rush to the conclusion that therefore everything’s about to come good, because there is still serious work to do and there are still big gaps,” he told the committee.