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Hopes grow for Northern Ireland deal as UK politicians ordered to parliament

british pm meets polish president on downing street, london
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

Lawmakers in British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party have been told to be in parliament on Monday in a sign that a new post-Brexit deal to resolve the trading arrangements in Northern Ireland could be getting closer.

After weeks of intense London-Brussels talks, momentum has been building towards a deal to revise the Northern Ireland Protocol – the arrangements agreed to avoid a hard border with EU member Ireland when Britain exited the EU in 2020.

Conservative lawmakers have been warned by party officials that there is a “three-line whip” to be in parliament on Monday, their strictest order for politicians to be present or they could face disciplinary action.

Cabinet ministers have been put on alert for a possible conference call over the weekend to discuss the deal, according to The Times newspaper, though that would depend on the backing of the biggest unionist party in the British province.

A government official, who asked not to be named, stressed that talks were continuing and said that any discussion of a conference call on Sunday was “purely speculation”.

Sunak had a “positive” call with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday, a source at his office said, adding there had been “good progress” and the pair would discuss the issue further in coming days.

The prime minister was also meeting with British supermarket executives on Friday to discuss the protocol, a source at one retailer said.

Britain and the EU have been working to revise the protocol which would mark an end to a two-year standoff, but might trigger a fresh battle for the government with pro-Brexit Conservative lawmakers.

The government needs the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) if a deal is to restore Northern Ireland’s power-sharing devolved administration, which its lawmakers are boycotting over their opposition to the protocol.

Some of Sunak’s lawmakers will refuse to support the deal unless it has the backing of the DUP, who argue the imposition of checks on some goods coming from the rest of the United Kingdom is undermining the union with Britain.

The party has proven to be a central player in almost seven years of often tortuous Brexit talks and its resistance has torpedoed previous attempts at agreement.

ADDRESSING CONCERNS

Britain’s foreign minister James Cleverly said on Friday he hoped any deal, if it were sealed, would address all the conditions laid down by the DUP.

“When, hopefully, we get those issues resolved then I would hope that the DUP would recognise that we’ve addressed their concerns and until we have addressed those concerns we’re not going to sign off on the deal,” he said.

Naomi Long, the head of the province’s cross-community Alliance Party, told Reuters it was wrong to give any individual party what appeared to be a veto on Northern Ireland’s future.

A spokesperson for the DUP said the focus in London and Brussels should be on getting the right deal, not rushing ahead. “The wrong deal will not restore power-sharing but will cement division for future generations,” the spokesperson said.

Opinion polls have consistently shown a majority of Northern Irish voters – who earlier opposed Brexit – favour the idea of the protocol and it is also backed by a majority of lawmakers elected to the devolved assembly last year.

The latest quarterly poll conducted for Queen’s University Belfast showed on Friday that 53% see the current lighter touch application of the rules as an appropriate means of managing Brexit, down one percentage point in the last three months.

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