Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visits Northern Ireland as protocol deal looms
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is visiting Northern Ireland amid mounting speculation that a protocol deal could come as early as next week.
He is expected to meet with the Stormont parties alongside Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: "Whilst talks with the EU are ongoing, ministers continue to engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure any solution fixes the practical problems on the ground, meets our overarching objectives, and safeguards Northern Ireland's place in the UK's internal market.
"The Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland are travelling to Northern Ireland this evening to speak to political parties as part of this engagement process."
This weekend, the Prime Minister is travelling to Munich where he's expected to hold talks on the fringes with EU leaders.
The DUP left the Northern Ireland Executive in 2022 due to its concerns over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
It was agreed between the EU and UK as a way of avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. It has sparked anger with unionists as it instead placed a border down the Irish Sea and has resulted in some checks being carried out on goods travelling from GB to NI.
The DUP set seven tests which it said it would require to be met before it could re-enter the power-sharing institutions.
Earlier this week, the Daily Telegraph reported that a new deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol which could be ready within a fortnight will meet the DUP's seven red lines, according to sources close to the UK government.
Speaking to UTV Live on Thursday, DUP MP Gregory Campbell said his party would be seeking assurances from the prime minister during any meeting.
"We will be wanting to know does any deal that he is going to enter into, if he is indeed going to, does it meet the tests we have set, that his own government has set, does it remove checks and paperwork for any goods coming from one part of the UK to another, and does it ensure that the constitutional position of Northern Ireland is not changed," he said.
"Those are tests we have set drawing on what his government and previous government's have alluded to, so this is in the benefit for everyone in Northern Ireland to try and resolve this," he added.
"It's not just unionist who want to get their trading arrangements east and west sorted, we all know the north-south sorting will be resolved as there won't be any barrier there because of the 300 crossing-points on the land border.
"So we need this deal, we need to get it right and Rishi Sunak has the ace cards to play and hopefully he will play them well with the EU."
As for communications with Downing Street, Gregory Campbell said there hadn't been as much communication "as there could have been".
"There have been plenty of kites flown in the last few weeks, we've seen the front page of national newspapers talking about a deal being ready and about to be produced and this week it's going to be the deal will meet all the seven tests and yet nobody has really unveiled what the deal is going to be," said the DUP MP.
"I think we just need to keep calm, keep focused on what is required and let's see if this cuts the mustard and is up to the mark or is it some sort of fudge that they're going to try and sell.
"We'll see in a very short space of time."
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