UK: The new agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol may be announced by Sunak on Monday, according to earlier reports, despite No. 10's purported refusal to confirm it and solely stating that negotiations between Britain and the EU on the agreement are ongoing.
The Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP) Bill, which British Prime Minister Rish Sunak plans to revoke as part of his new agreement with Brussels, may spark a pro-Brexit Tory uprising, according to a UK media outlet.
The information was released at the same time that Sunak told a British newspaper that his government was "giving it everything" to secure a new Brexit agreement for Northern Ireland, which he claimed was still being negotiated between the UK and the EU.
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Additionally, he promised the newspaper that he would work to allay the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) worries about the EU's continued influence in Northern Ireland.
Leo Varadkar, Sunak's Irish counterpart, stated that although "certainly the deal isn't done yet," he believes they are "inching towards a conclusion."
While insisting that the negotiations were ongoing and that any discussion of timing was "purely speculative," Downing Street sources have so far declined to confirm whether a deal would be announced in the upcoming days.
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In January 2021, when a trade and cooperation agreement between the parties took effect, London and Brussels completed the Brexit transition. The UK left the EU's single market and customs union in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Even though it was a part of the UK, Northern Ireland continued to participate in the European single market and customs unions.
In accordance with the NIP, all goods and animal-based products entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK must be examined upon arrival to make sure they comply with EU sanitary regulations.
The UK government introduced a bill unilaterally amending the NIP's terms in June 2022, claiming that the agreement is ineffective because it causes delays and disruptions in the flow of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland.
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The bill calls for changing the tax laws and creating a "green channel" for goods being shipped from the UK to Northern Ireland, eliminating the European Court's status as the sole arbiter of disputes. The EU was enraged by this, which prompted Brussels to file a lawsuit against London.