Irish Examiner view: Liverpool summit is a positive step in Anglo-Irish relationships

With the US seemingly hell-bent on dismantling age-old alliances, it seems fitting that Micheál Martin and Keir Starmer met at the UK-Ireland summit for all the right reasons

British prime minister Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Micheál Martin during a business roundtable at Liverpool docks on Thursday, in the first in a new series of annual UK-Ireland summits. Picture: Phil Noble/PA

At a time when the US seems hell bent on dismantling age-old alliances and relationships with its closest partners, it seems fitting that Taoiseach Micheál Martin and British prime minister Keir Starmer met at the UK-Ireland summit in Liverpool for all the right reasons.

The relationship between Britain and Ireland has been sorely tested in recent years, both by Brexit and by the chaos in 10 Downing St. The series of disastrous British leaders — from the buffoonish Boris Johnson to the hapless Liz Truss — appears to have come to an end with Labour leader Mr Starmer, whose calmness is in reassuring contrast with his predecessors. His reference this week to the two countries turning the page on “the turbulent years” was a considerable understatement.