Sunak hails ‘new chapter’ in UK-EU relations as Northern Ireland deal is agreed

Rishi Sunak hailed a “new chapter” in the UK’s relationship with the EU as he agreed a deal to end the dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol.

The prime minister said he had secured a significant change to the original text of the protocol. Now termed the Windsor framework, it will create a new green lane for traders, scrapping all trade restrictions between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and new freedoms for medicines, chilled meats and pets to move over the Irish Sea.

A new “Stormont brake”, a surprise measure in Monday’s package, means the Northern Ireland assembly can oppose new EU goods rules that would have significant and lasting effects on everyday lives in Northern Ireland.

At a joint press conference with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, in Windsor, the prime minister called the deal “a decisive breakthrough” that would make life immediately easier for businesses and citizens.

Speaking at a press conference in Windsor Guildhall, surrounded by portraits of past British monarchs, both leaders emphasised a sea change in the relationship between the UK and the EU, with Von der Leyen addressing the prime minister as “Dear Rishi” and adding they had built a new and constructive relationship from the start.

In a highly symbolic step towards closer relations, Von der Leyen also announced the EU would start the ratification process to allow the UK to return to the flagship £85bn Horizon Europe science research programme after two years of being locked out in tit-for-tat over the protocol dispute.

No 10 confirmed MPs would get a vote on the deal in parliament – and the deal will mean the government will drop the controversial Northern Ireland protocol bill, which had been championed by Boris Johnson to unilaterally override the original protocol. Johnson had urged Sunak not to drop the bill.

Sunak and Von der Leyen said there would remain a role for the European court of justice to govern EU law within Northern Ireland, giving it access to the single market and to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. But Sunak said the new deal allowed for “further democratic accountability”, providing a “very powerful mechanism” for Stormont to use when it has concerns.

He said the agreement was vital to “providing reassurance to everyone in Northern Ireland that they are in control of their destiny”.

Sunak said the deal would help restore the previously strained relationship with the EU and go much further than previously thought to fix the “democratic deficit” by giving Stormont ministers a direct say in EU laws applying to Northern Ireland. “This is the beginning of a new chapter in a relationship,” he said.

He said the deal “fixes the problems” consumers face and helped guarantee the future of peace and stability.

The UK and the EU would deliver this through “three major steps”, he said: removing customs paperwork for consumers, guaranteeing medical supplies in the long term and a new “Stormont brake” allowing assembly ministers a say on EU laws, allowing them to “stop them applying” in Northern Ireland.

Von der Leyen said it was with “a great sense of satisfaction” that she stood with Sunak to announce the plan.

“The new Windsor framework is here to benefit people in Northern Ireland and support all communities celebrating peace on the island of Ireland. And this is why I believe we can now open a new chapter in our partnership. Stronger EU-UK relationship, standing as close partners, shoulder to shoulder now and in the future,” she said.

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The agreement is the culmination of four months of intense negotiations led on the UK side by Sunak along with James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, and the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris – a former hard Brexiter who sat at the front of the press conference watching the deal delivered.

But Sunak will still be concerned about possible resistance from the hardline pro-Brexit camp in the European Research Group and the Democratic Unionist party, who have said they want the protocol scrapped altogether.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of the DUP, said his party would take time to assess the framework against the detail of its “seven tests”. He welcomed it but added: “Where necessary we stand ready to engage with the government in order to seek further clarification, reworking or change as required.”

A number of Conservative MPs immediately hailed the deal to give Sunak support to pass it through parliament, including the Northern Ireland minister, Steve Baker, a former chair of the ERG, and Simon Hoare, the chair of the Northern Ireland select committee.

At the heart of the revised pact are three main issues: physical controls and checks on trade to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, the role of the European court of justice and the application of EU law and the place of Northern Ireland in the UK’s internal market.

The majority of controls and checks will disappear on goods destined to remain in Northern Ireland and the EU will no longer have the right to automatically launch infraction proceedings, with Stormont ministers given sight of new EU laws as they are drafted.

The legal text of the original treaty has been amended, so that VAT and excise changes will apply to the whole of the UK, which means Northern Ireland can benefit from new zero-rates of VAT on materials like solar panels and from recent alcohol duty reforms.

Sunak said the deal would make the lives of people in Northern Ireland materially easier. “Today’s agreement is written in the language of laws and treaties. But really, it’s about much more than that.

“It’s about stability in Northern Ireland. It’s about real people and real businesses. It’s about showing that our union, that has lasted for centuries, can and will endure. And it’s about breaking down the barriers between us. Setting aside the arguments that have for too long, divided us. And remembering the fellow feeling that defines us: This family of nations – this United Kingdom.”