Rishi Sunak and EU chief finalise Brexit deal over Northern Ireland trade

Von der Leyen said the European Court of Justice would have the final say on European Union law and single market issues.

She said that the agreement protects the hard-earned peace arrangements. 

She also said that as soon as the deal is agreed upon, the EU will begin the process of admitting the UK into the Horizon programme. That is good news for researchers. 

Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Jeffrey Donaldson has said that his party would "need to take time" to look at any deal on post-Brexit trading arrangements. 

"I'm neither positive nor negative - we need to take time to look at the deal, what's available and how does that match our seven tests," Donaldson said.

Sunak and von der Leyen adopted the deal at talks in Windsor, west of London, both sides said. 

Their meeting followed more than a year of tense negotiations over the "Northern Ireland Protocol", which has unsettled the province 25 years on from a historic peace deal that ended three decades of armed conflict.

BBC also reported that an EU source in Brussels also confirmed a deal has been struck. 

BBC reported citing a senior government source.

"An agreement has been reached. The deal is done," the source said as quoted by the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom. 

The president of the European Commission will meet King Charles during the visit. 

"The president will also meet this afternoon His Majesty the King," EU spokeswoman Dana Spinant told reporters, in an update to Ursula von der Leyen's talks with British premier Rishi Sunak.

Buckingham Palace confirmed the meeting.

"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," a spokesman told reporters. 

"The head of state and president will sit down to tea late on Monday afternoon during their meeting where a range of topics are expected to be discussed, including climate change and the situation in Ukraine." 

Once finalised, the deal will overhaul trade rules in Northern Ireland, in a breakthrough aimed at resetting strained relations since Brexit. 

Agreed in 2020 as part of Brexit, the contentious pact kept the province in the European single market and subject to different trade rules than the rest of the UK. 

After Monday's talks, a British cabinet meeting will take place in the afternoon, when ministers will get an update.

If a final deal is agreed upon as expected, Sunak and von der Leyen will hold a short joint press conference in Windsor, west of London. 

The protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, commonly referred to as the Northern Ireland Protocol, is part of the Brexit agreement that ensures that a hard border is avoided in Ireland after the UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020.

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UK and EU leaders to meet on Monday in an attempt to finalise the Northern Ireland deal, with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expected to announce a new deal on post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland. 

The move appears to be gambling that the reward of better terms with the European Union is worth the discord it might cause within his own party. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to England for final talks, with a press conference pencilled in for the afternoon if the two sides can agree to terms. 

A statement from Sunak's office said: "The prime minister wants 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."