British PM Sunak to 'confront the hard choices' on Brexit with new deal

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain on February 26 vowed to fix the Brexit challenges, saying that his administration will pursue a new deal with the European Union to resolve the Northern Ireland Protocol. This protocol is a trading arrangement, negotiated during Brexit talks by previous Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson, that allows goods to be transported across the Irish land border without the need for checks.

The protocol has been a bone of contention following the economic fallout that London has been facing in the aftermath of Britain's exit from the European Union. The protocol was struck to prevent a hard border between UK territory Northern Ireland and EU member-state Ireland.

"I voted for Brexit and I believe in Brexit because it offers vast opportunities for families and businesses across our whole country," Sunak wrote in The Daily Telegraph.

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Sunak wrote that while Brexit was about restoring the UK's sovereignty, the Northern Ireland Protocol had undermined that and created "serious barriers to trade within the United Kingdom, and that is unacceptable".

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"My job is to seize this opportunity, confront the hard choices, and give everything I havegot. And I promise you this: I won’t agree on any deal which doesn’t fix the problems and deliver for Northern Ireland and our precious Union. That is the best way to finish the job, to unleash the opportunities of Brexit for every part of our United Kingdom and, finally, to get Brexit done,” he wrote.

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The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill was drafted for the UK to legally undo parts of the Brexit agreement through a Parliament vote. Against this, the European Union took legal action that led months of impasse until the latest round of talks launched by the Sunak administration.

“No British Prime Minister could ever sit back and just allow these problems to continue. That’s why my predecessors were right to create the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill – and why I supported them in doing so,” Sunak noted.

"For as long as the European Union refused to reopen negotiations on the Protocol itself, this Bill was the only way forward. I have no doubt that it helped to create the conditions where the EU has been prepared to engage constructively. But my predecessors were also right to say this Bill was a last resort. Like them, I have always said a negotiated solution would be a better outcome," he wrote.

Meanwhile, the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said the deal over trade between Britain and Northern Ireland was "inching towards a conclusion".

(With inputs from agencies)

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