British PM in Northern Ireland to sell new EU trade deal to leaders

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Hours after signing a historic accord with the European Union on post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is in Belfast to try to secure the backing of political leaders and people there.

However, Sunak signaled Tuesday that he would push ahead with implementing the new so-called Windsor Framework even if the Democratic Unionist Party, which had forced the changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol, rejects it.

"The framework is what we have agreed with the European Union. It's an incredibly positive and comprehensive agreement, ensures that we have smooth-flowing trade within the U.K. internal market.

"This is not necessarily about me or any one political party. This is about what's best for the people in communities and businesses in Northern Ireland," Sunak said.

The framework resolves the main sticking points in the original protocol negotiated by the administration of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, including removing the customs border between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland that it created down the middle of the Irish Sea.

It also limits the European Court of Justice's oversight in areas such as tax, medicines and food standards in Northern Ireland and remedies a "democratic deficit" by giving lawmakers the ability to veto new EU laws.

The deal has been largely welcomed in Britain and abroad with President Joe Biden calling it "an essential step" in preserving and strengthening the Belfast Good Friday Agreement -- the 1998 agreement that ended Northern Ireland's three-decade-long troubles -- while France's President Emmanuel Macron said it was "an important decision."

But the main focus is on the DUP and whether it will accept the amended protocol and end its boycott of a power-sharing government with Sinn Fein in protest over the protocol, arguing it treats Northern Ireland differently than other parts of Britain.

The row has left the country without a functioning government for almost a year.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson acknowledged the proposals go "some way" to addressing the party's concerns, but highlighted that EU law would still apply in some sectors of the economy and worries about the efficacy of a mechanism that would allow the Legislative Assembly to object to an EU regulation -- the so-called Stormont Brake.

"The key issue is why is EU law being applied and what is the purpose of that," Donaldson said.

"Of course, if there is some element of EU law being applied, for example, to cover trade with the EU itself, to cover the movement of goods from NI into the EU single market, then we need to examine, if there were changes to that law that impacted on our ability to trade within the U.K. and internal market, what can Stormont do about that."

"It is important that Stormont has that say and that the U.K. government has a veto over the implementation of EU law where it is harmful to Northern Ireland."

Other DUP figures have been more negative.

"My gut instinct is that it doesn't cut the mustard, we're not there," said Ian Paisley.

The MP for North Antrim, whose father founded the DUP, said the government had "fallen short on a number of key points".

"Remember Ursula [von der Leyen] said very clearly in Windsor that EU law is still the preferred mechanism and is still in place; the European Court of Justice will still be the final arbitrator," he said.

Sinn Fein, the largest party, welcomed the new agreement and urged the DUP to resume power-sharing without delay.

"Sinn Fein has impressed upon the prime minister and commission president throughout this process that the fundamental principles we wanted to safeguard were no hard border on the island of Ireland, protecting the Good Friday Agreement, and safeguarding access to the EU single market for the whole island," said Sinn Fein Vice-President Michelle O'Neill.

"Most people's minds will now be on restoration of the Executive and other political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement so that we can get back to work and together make politics work. This means that the DUP must end its blockade."