Daily Times

London: British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss vowed to make “significant progress” in negotiations with the EU on post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland, in the face of growing pressure from Unionists.

Even as London and Brussels have stepped up efforts to resolve the thorny issue, Unionists, who see the Northern Ireland protocol as a threat to the province’s place in the UK, are demanding a speedy resolution.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Paul Givan of, the Unionist DUP, which is threatening to topple the devolved government over the issue, said he wanted to see progress “imminently”.

It followed a meeting in Belfast with Truss who recently took over responsibility for negotiations with the EU.

Givan set a February 21 deadline for a breakthrough, the date of the next meeting of the joint UK-EU committee on the implementation of the Brexit deal.

“What I want is a deal that works for everyone. We are making progress. We’re having constructive talks,” said Truss who added that she hoped for “significant progress” by February.
She said it was important to “secure the support of all of the communities in Northern Ireland, including the unionist community”.

Designed to prevent the re-establishment of a physical border with neighboring Ireland that would threaten the Good Friday peace deal, the Northern Ireland Protocol that keeps the British province in the European single market and customs union.

The text, which governs customs and phytosanitary checks on goods from mainland Britain, has been the focus of significant criticism and disagreement between London and Brussels.

But the tone of the latest talks has raised hopes for a breakthrough that would avert potentially costly trade disputes.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson, under fire over allegations he attended parties during Britain’s strict coronavirus lockdown, used an appearance in Parliament to attack the EU’s implementation of the protocol on Wednesday as “insane and pettifogging”.