Negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol continued to trundle on this week with fresh talks held in Brussels in a bid to break the deadlock.
Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris met with the EU’s Maros Sefcovic in Belgium, but Government sources downplayed the chances of an agreement being struck this week.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has faced significant pushback from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Brexit hardliners in the Tory party which have derailed his chances of reaching an agreement.
The protocol, agreed as part of the UK’s Brexit deal, effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods, meaning checks on products crossing from Great Britain.
The situation led to the collapse of powersharing in Northern Ireland, with the DUP protesting about the barrier to trade with the rest of the UK.
New polling has put trust in the UK government’s ability to manage Northern Ireland’s interest with respect to the Protocol at an all-time low.
The Queen’s University Belfast study showed just three per cent have trust in Sunak, James Cleverly and Heaton-Harris.
Responding to the poll, Naomi Smith, CEO of Best for Britain said: “Even in the context of Northern Ireland, these findings are staggering and highlight just how abysmally successive Conservative Prime Ministers have treated Northern Ireland since the 2016 referendum.
“After years of treating NI like a political football, the Prime Minister must now do the right thing. He must face down the implacable minority in his party who are hell bent on blocking progress and deliver a negotiated settlement with the EU.”
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