Taoiseach hails UK minister’s climbdown from Brexit stance

THE Taoiseach has described UK minister for Northern Ireland Steve Baker’s apology over his previous stance on Brexit as ‘honest’ and ‘very helpful’.

Micheál Martin welcomed the tone of Mr Baker’s ‘upfront’ comments.

Mr Baker, a former strident Brexiteer and member of the pro-Brexit European Research Group of MPs, apologised on Sunday over his ‘ferocious’ stance on negotiations with the EU.

He told the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham that relations with Ireland are not ‘where they should be’, and added that ministers need to act with ‘humility’ to restore relationships with the Republic and the EU.

Speaking after a shared island event in Dublin yesterday, Mr Martin said: ‘I welcomed not just his comments, but the tone of his comments. I think they were honest and very, very helpful. And I look forward to continuing engagement with Minister Baker and others within the British government.’

The Taoiseach said he had a ‘very good engagement’ with new UK prime minister Liz Truss at the Queen’s funeral. ‘We both articulated a collective sense of the long-term desirability of very good relationships between Britain and Ireland and also between the UK and the EU,’ he added.

Mr Martin said it is ‘very clear’ that there is a ‘genuine determination’ to try to resolve all of the issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol by negotiation – but warned that there is ‘a lot of work to be done’.

Talks are set to resume later this week between the UK and the EU in a bid to find a way out of the impasse.

Mr Baker said yesterday that he is happy to eat humble pie in a bid to improve the broken relationship between Britain and Ireland. He told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland he is sorry that relations between the UK and Ireland have been ‘soured’ by the Brexit process and that he is ‘convinced’ a deal can be reached on the protocol if negotiations are made in a ‘spirit of goodwill’.