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.