LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suggested a coming deal with the European Union over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland would involve legal changes to the existing treaty, something the bloc has previously opposed.
In the House of Commons on Wednesday, Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson complained that under the existing “unacceptable” deal — known as the protocol — “EU laws are imposed in Northern Ireland with no democratic scrutiny or consent.” He asked the premier for an assurance “that he will address these fundamental constitutional issues, and do so not just by tweaking the protocol but by rewriting the legally binding treaty text?”
Sunak said he had heard Donaldson “loud and clear.” In a strong indication that he was seeking legal changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol, he added “I can assure him that I agree” and that this was “an essential part in the negotiations that remain ongoing with the European Union.”
