KEIR Starmer has said Britain will use contentious post-Brexit trading rules in Northern Ireland as a basis for getting a “better deal” with the EU following a meeting with First Minister Michelle O’Neill.
The Prime Minister met with the Sinn Fein politician and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly early on Monday, before holding meetings with delegations from the five main Stormont parties.
His visit to Belfast followed his trip to Edinburgh on Sunday, where he met with First Minister John Swinney.
The possibility of a border poll in Ireland has been raised after Sinn Fein’s success at the General Election.
By keeping their seven Commons seats – which they do not take up – they have become Northern Ireland’s largest party in Westminster as well as the largest in Stormont and in local government.
Starmer has committed to improving relations between the UK and Ireland.
The Irish government has taken a legal case in the European Court of Human Rights against the previous government’s controversial legacy laws that had offered a limited form of immunity for perpetrators of Troubles crimes.
The Labour leader vowed to repeal those contentious legislative provisions ahead of the election.
But in a comment which threatened to open up old wounds after Brexit and potentially take up much political focus, the Prime Minister insisted the country could get a “better” Brexit deal than the one agreed with the EU by Boris Johnson (below).
He said the country must stick with the current arrangements in place to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland as a precondition to this.
The Northern Ireland Protocol that Johnson struck with the EU, and its successor, the Windsor Framework, which Rishi Sunak negotiated with Brussels, both involve a requirement for checks and additional red tape on the movement of goods from Great Britain into the region.
Under those accords, Northern Ireland effectively aligns with many EU rules and regulations in order to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland.
Asked whether he would use Northern Ireland as a model for the UK’s future relations with the trading bloc, Starmer (above) said: “You are right to say we want to improve relations with the EU.
“We think we can get a better deal than the botched deal that Boris Johnson brought home and we will work on that, understanding the work that needs to be done and the nature of the challenge.
“In the meantime we do have to get on with implementing the important changes that are necessary under the existing arrangements we have got because we are not going to be able to get a better relationship unless we demonstrate a commitment to the relationship and the agreements that have already been put in place.”
