Rishi Sunak will say he is “determined” to break the impasse over power-sharing in Northern Ireland as he becomes the first prime minister to attend a British-Irish Council meeting since 2007.
The council, which meets in Blackpool today, brings together leaders not only from London and Dublin, but also from Wales, Scotland and, when in government, Northern Ireland. The re-establishment of this government, the power-sharing executive in the province, will be at the top of Sunak’s agenda.
He is scheduled to hold his first face-to-face talks with Micheál Martin, the Irish prime minister, and both are expected to focus on negotiations to resolve the impasse over Northern Ireland’s Brexit deal.
This, in turn, is considered key to unlocking a