Starmer urges Rishi Sunak to use Good Friday Agreement

• Keir Starmer has asked Rishi Sunak to use the Good Friday Agreement’s 25th anniversary.
• To “fix minds” and settle the NI protocol disagreement.
• In the course of a two-day trip to Northern Ireland, Sir Keir made the promise.

Rishi Sunak has been asked by Sir Keir Starmer to use the Good Friday Agreement’s 25th anniversary to “fix minds” and settle the NI protocol disagreement.

If the protocol deal is unable to garner enough backing from Conservative MPs, the Labor leader vowed to assist in getting it past Parliament.

In the course of a two-day trip to Northern Ireland, Sir Keir made the promise.

“The time to put Northern Ireland above a Brexit purity cult which can never be satisfied is now,” he said.

On April 10, 1998, the Good Friday Agreement, which helped put an end to the Troubles, a protracted period of conflict in Northern Ireland, was signed.

Sir Keir encouraged Mr. Sunak to end the impasse with the EU over the protocol, which permits goods to be transferred across the Irish land border without inspection, in a speech at Queen’s University Belfast.

“There is a small window of opportunity before April – we’ve got to use the anniversary to fix minds, get the country and its political process moving forward again – deliver for the people of Northern Ireland,” Sir Keir said.

“If there is a deal to do in the coming weeks, whatever political cover you need, whatever mechanism in Westminster you require, if it delivers for our national interest and the people of Northern Ireland we will support you.”

He met with political parties at Stormont on Thursday to talk about the protocol issue, and he characterized the discussions as fruitful.

Last February, the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland fell apart as a result of DUP protests against the protocol.

The DUP and other unionists’ concerns would continue to be heard, according to the Labor leader.

“Of course there will be difficulties, but I do offer support to the government, knowing what the challenges are,” he added.

Sir Keir said a priority for an incoming Labor government would also be to “reset and repair” relations with the Irish government.

He also reaffirmed that, if elected prime minister, he would revoke the contentious legislation that is currently being debated in Parliament and that would put an end to enquiries into homicides that occurred during the Troubles.

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