Katy Balls Katy Balls

Can Sunak win over the DUP?

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reacts during a visit with Microsoft founder Bill Gates at Imperial College University, in central London, on February 15, 2023. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A deal on the Northern Ireland protocol could be imminent – if the various factions agree. Rishi Sunak is this evening flying to Northern Ireland in a bid to sell the new deal on the protocol to the Democratic Unionist party. The Prime Minister is expected to hold talks in Belfast before meeting with the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen over the weekend.

Already there are warning shots from the DUP. The party’s chief whip has said: ‘Anything which does not deal with the democractic deficit and the imposition of EU law on Northern Ireland will not get our support.’ The role of the European Court of Justice is the most contentious aspect for both the DUP and Tory Brexiteers. There are some MPs supportive of Sunak who think the Prime Minister is best to steer away from the topic all together.

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