UK PM Liz Truss wants negotiated solution with EU on Northern Ireland protocol

British Prime Minister Liz Truss is seeking a negotiated solution with the European Union regarding trade with Northern Ireland. This comes as the United Kingdom and the European Union are currently at odds over the rules concerning trade with Northern Ireland.

Speaking to parliament, Truss said she wants a negotiated solution to the trade rules on Northern Ireland with the bloc. During her time as foreign minister, Truss introduced legislation that would unilaterally scrap out some customs checks on goods from the UK. During her campaign, Truss said she plans to pursue the bill’s passage.

“My preference is for a negotiated solution, but it does have to deliver all of the things we set out in the Northern Ireland Protocol bill, and what we cannot allow is for this situation to drift,” said Truss.

As part of its departure from the EU, the UK agreed to leave Northern Ireland within the bloc’s single market for goods, which would preserve the region’s border with EU member Ireland by creating a monitored border with the rest of the UK.

The new Northern Ireland minister, Chris Heaton-Harris, said he believed there is a “fairly obvious landing zone” for a solution.

Junior minister Conor Burns also told parliament that he had “constructive and prolonged talks” with the bloc’s post-Brexit negotiator, European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in a conference the previous weekend.

Sefcovic said the EU has been calling for London to engage with the bloc on proposals to simplify the trade rules, adding that this still stands with the new government under Truss.

Shortly after taking office as the country’s new prime minister, Truss has already spoken to a few world leaders such as US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. A spokesperson for the German government said in a statement that Scholz invited Truss to visit Berlin during their phone conversation.

Scholz congratulated Truss on her election victory as the new prime minister and leader of the ruling Conservative Party, according to the spokesperson.

“They exchanged views on current topics. The Chancellor has invited his British counterpart to Berlin for an inaugural visit soon,” the statement said.