The Prime Minister stressed that 'we have not got a deal yet' as expectations grow that a resolution could be close
Rishi Sunak has said "there's more work to do" on reaching a deal with the EU on Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
Speaking at Downing Street, he said: "Now it’s clear that we need to find solutions to the practical problems that the protocol is causing families and businesses in Northern Ireland, as well as address the democratic deficit. For the past year the DUP has blocked Stormont power-sharing in protest against the protocol, which has angered unionists for creating new checks on trade into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
Mr Sunak’s meeting on Friday with the DUP at the Culloden Hotel outside Belfast lasted significantly longer than his engagements with Sinn Féin, Alliance, the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP.Get the latest politics news and analysis in your inbox Want the biggest political stories sent straight to you?
After meeting with Mr Sunak, Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said there were signs of "significant progress" on the protocol and that it was "very much game on"."He accepts that the core of the protocol has worked and he has expressed the need to negotiate and to figure out how to resolve those parts that need a smoother application, or, as he put it, ‘the parts that weren’t working’," she said.
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