UK-EU sausage spat sizzles on final day of G7 summit

UK accuses France of ‘offensive’ remarks that Northern Ireland was not part of the United Kingdom.

Growing tensions between Britain and the European Union threatened to overshadow the G7 summit’s conclusion on Sunday, with London accusing France of “offensive” remarks that Northern Ireland was not part of the United Kingdom. Ever since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, the two sides have been trying to work out how to deal with post-Brexit trade and the British province, which has a land border with EU member Ireland. Ultimately, the talks keep coming back to the delicate patchwork of history, nationalism, religion and geography that intertwine in Northern Ireland, but the latest spat over the Brexit divorce deal is centred on sausages.