Windsor Framework makes Stormont restoration possible, PM Sunak says on Northern Ireland visit

The new 'Windsor framework' deal agreed between the EU and UK to resolve issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol makes it possible for power sharing at Stormont to be restored, the Prime Minister has said.

Rishi Sunak has been engaging with business leaders at a Coca-Cola factory in Co Antrim during a visit to Northern Ireland.

He said he wanted to see MLAs back at Stormont and working on the challenges facing the Northern Ireland public.

"They need to get back in," he said.

The DUP has been boycotting the Stormont institutions over the protocol which, following the UK's divorce from the EU placed a border down the Irish Sea in order to avoid a border between NI and the Republic.

He also hailed how significant Northern Ireland's place was on the global economic scale.

"If we get the Executive back up and running here, Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position – unique position in the entire world, European continent – in having privileged access, not just to the UK home market, which is enormous… but also the European Union single market. “Nobody else has that. No one. Only you guys, only here, and that is the prize."

Mr Sunak said the "concerns people had around the protocol were "valid".

The Prime Minister said, "that balance of the Good Friday Agreement had been unsettled and it needed correcting.

"But we have now corrected it," he continued.

"The framework is a fantastic agreement that delivers on all the things people care about.

"So now I hope that they do see it and see that and then can find a way back together.. it is what I want to see .. and it is what you deserve."

He said the 'Stormont brake' put more powers in the hands of Stormont politicians.

"We've empowered the Assembly even more with the new Stormont brake," Mr Sunak said.

"But they need to get back in so they can use those powers."

"We provided the means now and I hope with time and space they will see that is the right way forward. I want to give them the time and space ... but what I want to see, is what you want to see and I think we can now see a way that can be possible again."

Mr Sunak said Stormont parties needed to get around the table and engaging with "the detail we announced yesterday, and seeing it does provide a way to move forward".

"We have got to put the division and arguments of the past behind us. We have got to if we want to build a better future, we want young people not to have to leave to fulfill all their dreams, if we want to make sure our kids grow up in great circumstances and not in poverty then we need a functioning government here.

"That is what you need and that is what you deserve and that is what I believe we have created the conditions to make possible."

He added: "You know better than me all the challenges that are building up as a result of their not being a government here - and that is not good enough. And we all want to see that fixed.

"That's why I really everyone here will give the framework the time and consideration it deserves and see a way forward. We want to move forward together..."

Mr Sunak has been promoting his new post-Brexit deal following its announcement on Monday.

The agreement removes barriers on trade across the Irish Sea and hands a “veto” to politicians in Stormont on EU law, known as the Stormont brake.

Announcing the deal on Monday, Mr Sunak said it removed "any sense" of a border in the Irish Sea - the issues that has angered unionists and led to the DUP boycott of Stormont's institutions.

Rishi Sunak told business leaders that unionist concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol were valid, adding that it is really important "that Northern Ireland is fully part of the UK".

However he it is a 'good thing' for Northern Ireland to have 'privileged' access to both the UK and EU markets.

The Prime Minister described Northern Ireland as the "world's most exciting economic zone".

Quizzed on shortages on supermarket shelves, Rishi Sunak acknowledged the issue but insisted the situation was improving.

He said: "The hassle of getting a supermarket lorry from Great Britain to Northern Ireland was enormous, hundreds of certificate, tonnes of bureaucracy to get through."

Mr Sunak continued: "And worse, what was available in Great Britain on the shelves in the supermarket - which I know is a bit challenging at the moment but is getting better - but more generally, was not available on the shelves in Northern Ireland and that wasn't right.

"And we've resolved all those issues, there's going to be the same things in both places and that's as it should be."

Mr Sunak is also expected to meet with party leaders in Northern Ireland in a bid to sell the new agreement.

On Monday, Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill called for the DUP to "join the rest of the parties" by returning to the Stormont executive. However DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would "take time to study" the contents of the new protocol deal announced by the UK and EU.

Later on Tuesday, he will return to Westminster where he will address Tory MPs at a 1922 Committee meeting.

Following this, members of the Eurosceptic 'European Research Group' are to meet and discuss the Prime Minister's deal.

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