UK pledges all necessary steps to protect N. Ireland

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said Tuesday it will take all necessary steps to protect peace in Northern Ireland and urged the European Union to show new imagination in talks to resolve problems with post-Brexit trading rules.

London and Brussels have been trying for months to break the deadlock over the deal, which in effect created a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Britain wants a full overhaul of the agreement, while the EU is looking for changes within the terms of the existing deal.

“We will continue to talk with the EU, but we will not let that stand in the way of protecting peace and stability in Northern Ireland,” according to a British briefing document published on Tuesday to accompany the government’s new legislative agenda.

The stalemate over the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol is blocking the formation of a new executive in the British province following elections last week.

Britain has said it could be forced to act unilaterally to avoid a flareup in political tensions that might threaten the 1998 peace deal, which largely ended decades of sectarian violence.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was set to ditch large parts of the Northern Ireland protocol after giving up on the EU talks, The Times newspaper reported Monday.

However, the government did not announce any such detailed plans on Tuesday when it set out all the legislation it intends to introduce during the upcoming parliamentary year.

The government would “take the steps necessary” to protect the peace agreement and meet the democratic obligations to Northern Ireland it set out in a separate 2020 deal, the briefing document said.

Ireland’s prime minister warned his British counterpart on Tuesday against unilaterally seeking to overrule any of the post-Brexit.