Keir Starmer accuses Boris Johnson of taking 'wrecking ball' to Ireland-UK relations 

Labour leader Keir Starmer meets Taoiseach Micheál Martin at his office during his two day visit to Dublin. Mr Starmer said: “We're going to have a serious set of meetings in the North.” Picture:: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Relations with Ireland and resolving the Northern Ireland protocol row are “very, very important” to the British Labour Party, its leader Keir Starmer has said.

Speaking to reporters after his “positive” meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin, Mr Starmer said he is keen to discuss with leaders in Dublin and Belfast the “issues of concern”.

He accused Boris Johnson and his government of taking a "wrecking ball" to UK relations with Ireland and the EU. Speaking ahead of his departure to Belfast, Mr Starmer said: “We're going to have a serious set of meetings in the North.”

“Obviously, we’ll be talking about all of the issues of concern. As you can imagine that includes the protocol towards legacy but also relations between Ireland and the UK, which are very, very important to us as a party,” he told the Irish Examiner.

Good meeting with ⁦@Keir_Starmer⁩ in Government Buildings as he visits Dublin today. pic.twitter.com/VmFKi2M49G

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) June 9, 2022

Mr Martin refused to comment publicly on the meeting but did tweet that he had a “good meeting” with Mr Starmer in Government Buildings. Mr Starmer claimed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was too distracted by his own leadership travails to focus on the protocol impasse.

"Of course there are challenges with the protocol, but I think that we have faced much greater challenges than that in our shared history and I think that with flexibility on both sides, with good faith, statecraft, and trust around the negotiating table, we can deal with the remaining issues," he said.

"My concern is that we have a Prime Minister who doesn't have those attributes. Trust is very important in all of this and this Prime Minister does not have the trust, or I fear he doesn't have the trust, to negotiate in the way that I actually think would lead to a solution to the problems.

"We've faced bigger problems than this. With good faith, statecraft and trust around the negotiating table, which is what a Labour government would bring, these problems can be overcome. 

But a Prime Minister without those attributes taking a wrecking ball to the relationship is not going to help anybody.

Commenting on Mr Johnson, Mr Starmer said: "He's doing everything he can to save his own skin rather than focusing on the issue here, which is how do we get people around the negotiating table, flexibility on both sides so we can overcome the remaining problems."

Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said it appeared that the UK Government was unsure over what to include in its Bill.

"There were attempts, certainly, we think to harden up some of the language in the proposed legislation this week, which now seems to have been reversed again - we simply don't know," he said. "We'll have to wait and see. But, of course, our real message is 'please don't go there'."

Mr Coveney warned that the EU’s position on the protocol has “hardened” in the face of the UK threat of unilateral action.

Speaking on his way into Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Coveney said: “My message to the British government is a very clear one: if you are genuinely interested in negotiated solutions to these problems… well then let’s see some evidence as to a willingness to negotiate seriously those solutions through compromise, through flexibility.”

Mr Coveney said the last thing Ireland and the EU wanted was "tension and unnecessary rancour" in their relationship with the UK at a time when the focus should be on working together on issues such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.