UK's Johnson says Brexit problems in Northern Ireland are solvable

[March 04, 2021]    LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday the latest problems surrounding Brexit and Northern Ireland could be solved with good will and common sense.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during the weekly question time debate in Parliament in London, Britain, March 3, 2021, in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

The EU promised legal action on Wednesday after the British government unilaterally extended a grace period for checks on food imports to Northern Ireland, a move Brussels said violated terms of Britain's divorce deal.

"I am sure that with a bit of good will and common sense that all these technical problems are eminently solvable," Johnson said in a pooled interview during a trip to north east England.

He added that he had not seen which Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary groups had said they were temporarily withdrawing support for the 1998 peace agreement due to concerns over the Brexit deal.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by Estelle Shirbon)

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