The UK and European Union signed off on their new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland on Friday, promising to kick-start the process of soothing the last major hangover following Britain’s exit from the bloc.
(Bloomberg) — The UK and European Union signed off on their new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland on Friday, promising to kick-start the process of soothing the last major hangover following Britain’s exit from the bloc.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic met in London to adopt the so-called Windsor Framework, the pair said in a joint statement. It comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphatically won a parliamentary vote this week on the Stormont Brake, a key part of the deal that seeks to give Northern Ireland’s politicians a veto over the application of new EU rules.
That passed by 515 votes to 29 on Wednesday after the prospect of a sizable rebellion faded. The EU also formally agreed to key elements of the deal on Wednesday.
What’s the ‘Windsor Framework’ for Northern Ireland?: QuickTake
Still, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party voted against and said it can’t yet return to the region’s power-sharing executive because post-Brexit issues remain unresolved. That cast doubt over the prospect of re-forming the government in Northern Ireland, which has been suspended for over a year.
Friday’s London meeting also included discussions about Ukraine, further collaboration on electricity trading and the EU’s response to US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The pair also said they would take forward discussions on the UK’s membership of the EU’s Horizon research program.
“Both sides agreed to work together intensively and faithfully to implement all elements of the Windsor Framework,” Cleverly and Sefcovic said in the joint statement. They also “reaffirmed their intent to use all available mechanisms in the Framework to address and jointly resolve any relevant future issues that may emerge.”
(Updates with statement throughout.)
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