UK-EU Brexit spat over N Ireland clouds G7 leaders summit

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has held meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of a G-7 summit, as post-Brexit turbulence strains relations between Britain and the EU

FALMOUTH, England -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday on the sidelines of a G-7 summit, as post-Brexit turbulence strains relations between Britain and the EU. After Britain’s top diplomat accused the EU of taking a “bloody-minded” approach to relations, Johnson also met the bloc’s leaders, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, at the Carbis Bay resort where G-7 leaders are gathering. The two sides are locked in an escalating diplomatic feud over Northern Ireland, the only part of the U.K. that has a land border with the bloc. The EU is angry at British delay in implementing new checks on some goods coming into Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. required under the terms of Britain's divorce from the bloc. Britain says the checks are imposing a big burden on businesses and destabilizing Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace. The spat has drawn in U.S. President Joe Biden, who is concerned about the potential threat to Northern Ireland’s peace accord.