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Leo Varadkar has U-turned on a hated post-Brexit deal in what appears to be a major climbdown. The Tánaiste of Ireland has today conceded that the Northern Ireland Protocol is “too strict”.
Speaking in Dublin, Mr Varadkar insisted that the Protocol “is working”, but noted that it is not without its problems.
He said: “We should not forget that the protocol is working. It was designed to prevent a hard border between north and south, and there is no hard border between north and south.
“It was designed to protect the integrity of the single market and it has, and also the Northern Ireland economy is outperforming the rest of the UK economically.
“But one thing that I would concede is that perhaps the protocol, as it was originally designed, was a little too strict.”
The Tánaiste has previously accuse the UK Government of not doing enough in negotiations with the EU over the Protocol.
In June, he accused negotiators of not being “even handed” with regards to resolving the ongoing row over the treaty.
But in his most recent comments, Mr Varadkar accepted that there is more work the EU can do to bring the talks to a close.
He said: “The Protocol has not been fully implemented and yet it is still working.
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He wrote in a post on Twitter: “[The Government and the EU] now need to deliver a deal that meets the needs of all communities in Northern Ireland.”
Negotiations between UK and EU officials are relaunching today.
The European Commission earlier this week revealed that a meeting will take place for technical level talks.
New Prime Minister Liz Truss has made it clear that a negotiated settlement with the EU is her “preference” over triggering Article 16.
The latter would allow Ministers to take unilateral action if they believed the treaty was causing “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist”.
Brussels has signalled that it would respond to the triggering of Article 16 by launching a fresh trade war with the UK.
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