British’s PM Rishi Sunak and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen clinch Brexit deal over Northern Ireland trade

The 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

Britain and the European Union on February 27, 2023 agreed a crucial overhaul of trade rules in Northern Ireland, a breakthrough aimed at resetting seriously strained relations since Brexit.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula 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.

Agreed in 2020 as part of Britain’s EU divorce, the pact kept the province in the European single market for physical goods and subject to different customs rules than the rest of the UK, angering pro-UK unionists there and eurosceptics in London.

The UK government had threatened a unilateral overhaul of the protocol unless the EU agreed to wholesale changes, souring diplomatic ties and risking a wider trade war, but that prospect now appears to be receding.

“I’m looking forward to turning a page and opening a new chapter with our partner and friend,” von der Leyen said as she left Brussels ahead of the talks.

The EU chief was also set to meet King Charles III while in Windsor, stoking accusations in the UK that Sunak was trying to project royal endorsement of the expected deal.