Brexit Latest: Sunak, Von der Leyen Meet to Seal N. Ireland Deal
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(Bloomberg) — UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed a deal on post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, potentially ending a stand-off that’s poisoned relations with the European Union.
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In a press conference, Sunak said the UK and European Union had made a “decisive breakthrough” and hailed “the beginning of a new chapter in our relationship.” Von der Leyen said the “extraordinary” agreement provides for “long-lasting solutions.”
Von der Leyen met Sunak in Windsor, to the west of London, the first part of a highly choreographed afternoon, before making a statement to Parliament. From the EU side, EU Brexit chief Maros Sefcovic will brief member states on Monday on the state of play.
Key Developments:
Sunak Aims to Unveil New Trading Deal for Northern IrelandRishi Sunak Faces Brexit Hell in Showdown With UK HardlinersWhy Northern Ireland Keeps the UK and Europe at Odds: QuickTake
(All times are U.K.)
Deal ‘Protects’ N. Ireland, Von Der Leyen Says: (3:45 p.m.)
Von Der Leyen spoke after Sunak, saying that the new agreement provides for “long-lasting solutions” for Northern Ireland. The deal puts in place strong safeguards that will allow goods to move more freely across the Irish Sea.
The establishment of red and green lanes for goods, as well as real-time data-sharing, which will enable Northern Ireland supermarkets to stock the same food as in Great Britain.
She hailed the negotiating teams and said: “The result is extraordinary.”
Sunak Announces ‘Windsor Framework’ (3:33 p.m)
The British prime minister gave the first details of the new Brexit trade agreement in remarks to open a join press conference with Von Der Leyen. He said the negotiations had led to amendments to the legal text of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a move that would “safeguard Northern Ireland’s place in the union.”
“Burdensome bureaucracy will be scrapped,” Sunak said, announcing what he called the “Windsor Framework,” an agreement he said would remove “any sense of a border in the Irish Sea.”
Pound Rises 0.7% to Session-High (2:45 p.m.)
Sterling rose to a session-high after news of the announcement. The pound increased by as much as 0.7% to $1.2030, making it the second-best performing major currency Monday.
The UK prime minister and the leader of the European Commission quickly wrapped up a deal after beginning talks close to Windsor Castle, where Von Der Leyen will meet King Charles III later on Monday.
Broadcasters aired pictures of them shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries before talks began. The two will hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. UK time.
Unionists ‘Need to Take Time’: (1:55 p.m.)
Donaldson, leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, said he hasn’t seen the text of any deal. Speaking to the BBC before flying to London, he said he hadn’t seen the text of an agreement yet.
“Once we’ve seen the legal text we’ll come to a view on that,” Donaldson said. “I’m neither positive nor negative. I think that we need to take time to look at the deal, what’s available, and how does that match our seven tests,” he added.
Sunak Wins Key Backing of Pro-Brexit MP (1 p.m.)
Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, a former chair of the European Research Group of Brexiteer Tory MPs, appears to have given his backing to the imminent deal.
Speaking to reporters at Downing Street, Baker told Sky News that “the PM is on the cusp of securing a really fantastic result for everyone involved.”
While a minister would typically be expected to support government policy, Baker has been one of the most hardline Brexiteers in parliament in recent years. Bloomberg previously reported he was considering resignation, unhappy at being kept out of the loop on negotiations.
Gibraltar Dispute Continues (12:54 p.m)
Any deal on the Northern Ireland protocol won’t solve all border frictions between the EU and the UK — they continue to disagree over the post-Brexit relationship with Gibraltar, which is a very different situation, a senior EU diplomat said.
Talks are ongoing to keep Gibraltar — a UK territory on the southern tip of Spain — in the EU’s Schengen area to avoid a hard border. But Madrid wants Spanish agents to control the entry to the European border-free area at Gibraltar’s port and airport. Last November, Spain made a global proposal to the UK covering the transit of people and goods, workers’ rights and the fight against money laundering.
Von Der Leyen to Meet King (11:55 a.m.)
Von der Leyen will meet with King Charles III later this afternoon, Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters.
Speaking after some Conservatives, including former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg criticized the idea of the European Commission president meeting the monarch, Blain said it’s up to the King to decide who he meets. He declined to comment on why the monarch had been given the advice that a meeting should go ahead.
The disclosure comes after people familiar said last week a meeting between von der Leyen and the King had been planned for the weekend before being canceled. That had sparked controversy, with Rees-Mogg telling GB News on Monday such a meeting would be a “mistake” because the sovereign shouldn’t be involved until there is “full support” for any deal.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement that the King “is pleased to meet any world leader if they are visiting Britain and it is the Government’s advice that he should do so.”
Von Der Leyen Arrives in UK (11:10 a.m.)Sunak Seeking to Settle Trickiest Brexit Overhang (10:55 a.m.)
The deal signed by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2019 caused various problems for Northern Ireland and it’s been a simmering source of tension since.
The agreement created an effective trade border within the United Kingdom, requiring goods traveling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland to face various customs checks as if they were heading for the EU. It also kept Northern Ireland following some EU laws.
That riled unionists, who have stymied the formation of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government for more than a year in protest against the arrangements. The UK-EU discussions have sought to fix those frictions, while continuing to protect the bloc’s single market.
Starmer Says Deal Likely to Be an Improvement (10:30 a.m.)
Asked why he’s backing a deal he hasn’t yet read, Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer said he’s “completely across the issues” and their potential solutions.
“Frankly any steps in this direction are going to be an improvement on what we have got,” Starmer told reporters after delivering a speech on Monday. “I can say with confidence we back the deal. It’s not going to be a surprise, it’s not going to be out of the blue.”
N. Ireland Deal Will Spur Growth, Labour’s Reeves Says (07:32 a.m.)
The opposition Labour Party said a new post-Brexit agreement for Northern Ireland will boost the UK economy and pledged to back the expected deal negotiated by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“This will be beneficial to the economy of the United Kingdom,” Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Bloomberg TV on Monday. “We’re not going to play party politics with this. We will support the government if and when they bring back a deal.”
Tory Backbencher Says N. Ireland Needs Say on Laws (7:10 a.m.)
Theresa Villiers, a Brexiteer Conservative backbencher, said Sunak’s deal needs to end frictions and paperwork for goods crossing the Irish Sea and also end the situation where “people in Northern Ireland are subject to thousands of single market laws over which they have no say and no vote.”
“We can’t tolerate a continuation of Northern Ireland being subject to the full panoply of single market rules,” Villiers — a former Northern Ireland secretary — told BBC radio on Monday. “There’s going to be significant divergence in the future and that makes it even more important for us to address this problem that we must enable people in Northern Ireland to have a say over the laws that govern them.”
Villiers also said it’s “crucial” that Sunak gives Parliament a vote over any new deal, adding: “I can’t conceive of circumstances where something as significant as this can be finally agreed and implemented without MPs voting.”
–With assistance from Joe Mayes, Kitty Donaldson, Emily Ashton, Alex Wickham, Richard Bravo and Jorge Valero.
(Updates with details from the start.)
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