Irish Examiner view: A step in the right direction 

Protocol deal

British prime minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at yesterday's announcement of the EU and UK agreement. Picture: Dan Kitwood/PA

Following the unveiling yesterday of the Windsor Framework — the long-awaited and much anticipated replacement for the controversial and to some unacceptable Northern Ireland Protocol — there is a sense that the poisoned relationship between the EU and Britain can become less toxic.

There was a sense too, when the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen signed off on the deal, that great lengths had been gone to and big concessions made on both sides in an effort to find a resolution to the fact that Northern Ireland is the only part of Britain to share a land border with the EU.

Proposals to solve the myriad difficulties on imports/exports, dual regulation, food production, legal jurisdiction and so forth have been thrashed out and agreed upon by both parties and suggest a level of trust between them that has not existed for seven years or more now. 

It also highlighted that the era of butting heads is over and that a new age of co-operation and constructive discourse may now with us.

That, of course, is on one political level. On another, Sunak now has to persuade a dissolute party membership that the deal is one they can live with, without diluting the essence of Brexit. He also has to persuade the Democratic Unionist Party that the source of their opposition to the protocol has now been addressed.

Neither of those tasks will be easy for the prime minister, but the credit, he will have gained by his perseverance in trying to find solutions to the issues at hand in a credible and internationally acceptable manner should stand him in good stead. But, in the face of steadfast and strident opposition, his task is far from over.

Members of his own cabinet and parliamentary party — as well as the DUP and their self-declared ‘seven tests’ — will undoubtedly want to pour over the detail which may bedevil the Windsor Framework and that will take time. 

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

They will want to study the fact EU law will still have a role in Northern Ireland and also how the proposed ‘Stormont Brake’ will work too. But, after years of angst, argument, anger and — without doubt — arrogance, yesterday’s agreement suggests that Britain under Sunak’s leadership has shown a more grown-up attitude to the problems facing it than previous administrations. 

It also indicates that the EU is far more interested in mature negotiations to solve common problems than it is in slinging insults and indulging ignorance.

There is a long, long way to go here. The negotiations between the UK and the EU have successfully concluded, but the matter is not done and dusted.

So now we wait.