LONDON — The U.K. sees the prospect of a deal with the European Union on Northern Ireland’s trade arrangements within weeks as relations thaw following a protracted stalemate.
The government is optimistic a negotiated settlement can be reached “in the next few weeks,” now that talks have restarted, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said Tuesday at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that “the tone has improved.”
The progress in resolving differences with the E.U. over trade between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland raises the chances of the U.K. repairing relations with its biggest trading partner and finally drawing a line under Brexit negotiations more than six years after the country voted to leave the bloc.
