Sunak in EU trade deadlock
NORTHERN Ireland’s hopes of governing itself were hanging by a thread last night with a deal on cross-border trade still not done.
Rishi Sunak held private talks with EU Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen at the Munich Security summit in the hope of breaking the deadlock.
He also spoke to French president Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
But the Prime Minister said: “There isn’t a deal that has been done. There is an understanding of what needs to be done.”
EU Commission vice-president Frans Timmerman said: “There’s a willingness on both sides to find a compromise, to find a way out.”
The stalemate would dash Mr Sunak’s hopes of laying the deal before Parliament on Tuesday.
The PM hopes to end customs checks on goods such as meat and eggs travelling between Britain and Northern Ireland which effectively puts a border down the Irish Sea. Any new deal must have the approval of the
Protestant DUP for them to return power-sharing – suspended for more than a year.
Failure could mean the end of Northern Ireland’s devolution and the province being permanently ruled from Westminster.
Mr Sunak also said the West must step up to the plate in giving Ukraine more arms.
But he stopped short of promising any of Britain’s £100million Typhoon warplanes that Ukrainiain president Volodymyr Zelensky is asking for.
Mr Sunak only went as far as saying he would support any country which offered fast jets.
The PM held out a hint that jets could be provided as deterrent to further Russian aggression if Ukraine wins the war.
US Vice President Kamala
Harris said America now has concrete evidence of atrocities by Russian troops including execution-style killings, rape, torture and deportations.
She added: “The United States has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity. On behalf of all the victims, both known and unknown, justice must be served.”