The agreement, which amends the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol, came after high-level talks on Monday in Windsor, England, between UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
“We have now made a decisive breakthrough, together we have changed the original protocol and are today announcing the new Windsor Framework,” Sunak said at a news conference alongside von der Leyen following the pair’s discussions.
“Today’s agreement delivers smooth-flowing trade within the whole of the United Kingdom, protects Northern Ireland’s place in our union and safeguards sovereignty for the people of Northern Ireland,” he added.
Sunak confirmed that Britain’s Parliament would get a vote on the agreement once there had been “time for people to digest” it, but hailed the breakthrough as the beginning of a new era in UK-EU relations.
“The United Kingdom and European Union may have had our differences in the past, but we are allies, trading partners and friends … this is the beginning of a new chapter in our relationship,” he said.
Political deadlock
The deal seeks to resolve tensions caused by the 2020 post-Brexit arrangements governing Northern Ireland, a British province, and its open border with EU member state the Republic of Ireland.
It is expected to ease physical checks on goods flowing from the remainder of the UK to Northern Ireland, and give the latter’s lawmakers a say over the EU rules it has to implement under the complicated terms of Britain’s exit from the bloc.
It remains to be seen, though, whether it will go far enough to end the political deadlock in Northern Ireland and satisfy critics in Britain and the province.
The leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on Monday said his party was now studying the legal texts published earlier in the day setting out proposed new post-Brexit trading arrangements agreed between Britain and the EU.
Jeffrey Donaldson said that in broad terms it was clear that significant progress had been secured across a number of areas on the trade rules for Northern Ireland but that key issues of concern remain.
“The DUP will want to study the detail of what has been published today as well as examining the detail of any and all underpinning legal texts. Where necessary we stand ready to engage with the government in order to seek further clarification, re-working or change as required,” Donaldson said in a statement.
“There can be no disguising the fact that in some sectors of our economy EU law remains applicable in Northern Ireland.”
The DUP has boycotted Northern Ireland’s regional assembly for the last year in protest at the post-Brexit checks between Britain and Northern Ireland, and Donaldson said on Monday that this “principled position” had been vindicated.
He said the party would assess the new arrangements against the “seven tests” it had drawn up during the negotiation and this would decide whether the deal “respects and restores Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom.”
“Key Pillars”
Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from London, said the “key pillars” of the agreement in principle were the smoothing of trade between the UK mainland and Northern Ireland and the provision of a mechanism – the so-called Stormont Brake – allowing Northern Ireland’s regional assembly to put an emergency brake on EU laws applying there.
“The deal will provide for all foodstuffs available on shelves in the UK mainland to also be available in Northern Ireland shelves provided they are not going on for export deeper into the EU’s single market,” Hull said.
“The same goes for medicines, pets and plants – all of those things had been severely hampered by new [post-Brexit] checks under the Northern Ireland Protocol,” he added.
‘Long-lasting solutions’
Von der Leyen praised the deal, saying it would deliver “a practical solution for people and for all communities in Northern Ireland”.
“This new framework will allow us to begin a new chapter,” she told reporters at the news conference.
“It provides for long-lasting solutions that both of us are confident will work for all people and businesses in Northern Ireland – solutions that respond directly to the concerns they have raised.”
Sunak is due to make a statement to the House of Commons on the agreement later on Monday.
A meeting between von der Leyen and King Charles III at Windsor Castle is also planned. The meeting is likely to touch on a variety of issues, including climate change and the war in Ukraine.