EU, UK reach new deal on NI protocol

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, agreed on a new post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland in a meeting in Windsor, near London, on Monday.

It had been reported over the weekend that the United Kingdom and European Union were close to a new agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol that would ease trading tensions in the British province.

The leaders of Britain and the EU confirmed a new pact had been sealed, in a joint news briefing, before the prime minister disclosed further details to members of Parliament in the House of Commons.

The PA news agency reported that von der Leyen was also due to meet King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Monday afternoon, which The Guardian newspaper said would be controversial, as it would appear Downing Street is trying to create the impression the protocol deal has royal approval.

How trade would be handled with Northern Ireland, which is formally part of the UK but also on the island of Ireland, was a point of contention during Brexit negotiations.

The protocol sought to resolve this by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU customs union and the single market for goods. Britain has since been stuck in a two-year stalemate with the EU over the contentious arrangement.

Sunak had wanted "to ensure any deal fixes the practical problems on the ground, ensures trade flows freely within the whole of the UK, safeguards Northern Ireland's place in our Union and returns sovereignty to the people of Northern Ireland", said a statement from Downing Street prior to the deal being confirmed.

The Times reported on Monday that Sunak "has Cabinet backing" for his protocol deal after winning "major concessions" from the EU on the trade arrangement.

Sunak now faces a battle to sell his deal to Brexit supporters in his governing Conservative Party and to win the support of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, which has been deeply opposed to post-Brexit protocol arrangements.

Former Cabinet minister and pro-Brexit Conservative Party MP Jacob Rees-Mogg warned Sunak of a Tory revolt if the DUP does not back the agreement.

In television interviews early on Monday, Rees-Mogg said approval depends on the DUP. "If the DUP are against it, I think there will be quite a significant number of Conservatives who are unhappy," he told GB News.

"I'm afraid with all the EU deals, the devil is in the detail, so when people say'we need to see the legal text', they are not larking about, they really want to see it to understand what the effect is."

Downing Street has not yet committed to giving the Commons a vote on the final arrangements. Conservative MP Theresa Villiers, a former Northern Ireland secretary, told the BBC's Today program that she could not "conceive of circumstances where something as significant as this could be finally agreed and implemented without MPs voting on it in Parliament".