Keir Starmer has pledged to repeal the controversial Legacy Act, which offered immunity to Troubles-era crimes in Northern Ireland, and discussed replacement legislation with the Irish prime minister during a wide-ranging discussion over dinner at Chequers on Wednesday night.
In December the Irish government began a legal challenge against the UK government over the act, introduced by the Conservatives, which was opposed by all five main parties in Northern Ireland, action that is now likely to be abandoned.
Speaking to reporters after the dinner, the taoiseach, Simon Harris, said Starmer and he had agreed to “work together” on what the appeal of the Legacy Act might look like.
“Not only now do we have the manifesto of Keir Starmer’s party committing to repealing and replacing the legacy act, we now have the king’s speech of the prime minister’s government outlining its commitment to repealing and replacing, so the prime minister and I had the opportunity to discuss that this evening, and we’ve also agreed to work together on what replacement might look like.
“I must say, I find it so refreshing and so encouraging to hear a British prime minister now using that language,” said Harris.
Starmer hopes the dinner will start a reversal, on the eve of the biggest summit of European leaders in the UK, of almost a decade of strained relations with Ireland.
He agreed to make a formal visit to Ireland on 7 September, the night of an Ireland-England Nations League football match, while Harris pledged to support the UK’s attempt to reset its relationship with the EU, describing the possibility of a UK-EU summit as something that had “certain merits”.
Greeting Harris, Starmer said he was “very pleased to have this very early opportunity to what I see as resetting, strengthening and deepening our relationship”.
Harris responded: “I am delighted to be here too, to congratulate you in person. It means a lot to us, a lot to Ireland.”
Before the meeting the taoiseach said he was “fully committed to a stronger, mutually respectful and ambitious partnership between both countries, and to getting down to work to make this happen”.
The meeting took place on the eve of the European Political Community (EPC) summit, to be held at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
Thames Valley police have restricted airspace for aircraft and drones around the palace as 45 European leaders and their 400-strong delegations descend on the Oxfordshire estate, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, on Thursday.
All 27 EU leaders will attend the EPC summit with leaders of non-EU countries including the UK, Iceland, Norway, Kosovo, Serbia, Georgia, Andorra, Albania and Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, may close the summit with a press conference, with Starmer hoping to demonstrate the “very strong message” EU leaders want to send to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
Representatives of Nato, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe will also attend to discuss Europe’s position in the face of what Starmer described as Russia’s “barbaric” war, and “vile” smuggling gangs who traffic “innocent people on perilous journeys that too often end in tragedy”.
Europe’s future defence strategy, particularly in the event of Donald Trump being elected as US president, is at the top of the agenda, followed by migration, the future of democracy and energy security.
It is understood Starmer will then attend a working group on migration to be chaired by the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama.
This week Frontex, the EU’s border agency, revealed that migration had fallen by 61% on the central Mediterranean route in the first six months of the year, with sources suggesting that Tunisia was taking more interest in cracking down on people-smugglers who last summer launched between 40 and 50 boats a day to Italy.
Overall numbers have dropped by a third to 94,000, with the central Mediterranean and Balkans routes declining but a 174% jump in numbers trying to get to the Canary Islands.
Emmanuel Macron and the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, will jointly chair one of two working groups on defence and democracy. It is understood that Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, Josep Borrell, Europe’s chief diplomat, and the prime ministers of Iceland, the Czech Republic, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andorra and Finland will attend this group.
A second defence and democracy group will be chaired by the European Council chief, Charles Michel.
As well as the meeting with Harris, Starmer has a bilateral with Macron in the diary on Thursday.
Starmer and Harris committed to annual Anglo-Irish summits to develop a specific workstream to “deepen and reinvigorate” cooperation.
