Northern Ireland's position 'rock solid' in UK, says Johnson, promising to fix post-Brexit trade

[March 03, 2021]  LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday Britain would leave nothing off the table in talks with the European Union to improve post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, saying the province's position in the United Kingdom was "rock solid".

 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis is seen outside Downing Street in London, Britain, February 3, 2021. REUTERS/John Sibley

Britain, after leaving the EU last year, agreed on a free trade deal with the bloc to leave its single market and customs union, which came into force at the beginning of this year.

But the new rules have caused disruption, with Northern Ireland, which has a land border with EU member Ireland, having a foot in both camps as part of the UK's customs territory while still aligned with the single market for goods.

Britain and the EU have been in talks to try to solve the issues, which some Northern Irish lawmakers say threaten to cut the British province off from the rest of the United Kingdom.

"The position of Northern Ireland within the UK internal market is rock solid and guaranteed. We are making sure that we underscore that with some temporary operational easings in order to protect the market in some areas, such as food supplies, pending further discussions with the EU," Johnson told parliament.

"We leave nothing off the table in order to ensure that we get this right."

Last month, Northern Ireland's first minister, Arlene Foster, repeated her calls for Johnson to "act unilaterally" to solve the trade issues, accusing European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic of being "not serious".

Some in Northern Ireland and several Brexit supporters want Johnson to scrap the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, put in place to preserve the open Irish border - part of a 1998 peace deal that largely ended sectarian conflict in the province.

Britain's Northern Ireland minister, Brandon Lewis, said the government would give supermarkets and suppliers more time to adapt to post-Brexit trading rules with the province after some experienced disruption with some goods, notably food.

"We are taking forward a series of further temporary operational steps which reflect the simple reality that there is more time needed to adapt and implement new requirements as we continue our discussions with the EU," Lewis told parliament.

Lewis said the steps would be set out later on Wednesday, along with further details on how the British government will try to ensure there are no potential charges applied to agricultural goods arriving in the province's ports.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, writing by Elizabeth Piper and William James; editing by Alistair Smout, James Davey and Nick Macfie)

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