Britain’s prime minister said she would prefer a negotiated solution with the European Union to issues relating to the Northern Ireland protocol, the deal negotiated as part of Brexit that Britain has tried to override.
Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has been accused of having a tense relationship with the EU while serving as British foreign secretary, told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday in her first U.S. television interview since taking office that she was still seeking such a solution. Truss became prime minister earlier this month, leaving her in charge of addressing the Northern Ireland matter, which stems from decades of bloodshed between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and thus Catholics and Protestants, respectively.
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“Well, President Biden and I both agree that what is vital is to protect the Belfast-Good Friday Agreement,” Truss told CNN’s Jake Tapper when asked what compromises she was willing to make in negotiations with the EU. “But what’s important is that we protect and respect the positions of both the nationalist community in Northern Ireland, as well as the unionist community in Northern Ireland. So what I want to do is find a way forward. And my preference is a negotiated solution with the EU that protects that North-South relationship but also protects the East-West relationship.”
The Good Friday Agreement was approved in 1998, ending decades of deadly fighting between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The two nations share a border, though Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom while Ireland is part of the EU, giving the body a say in post-Brexit decisions on the matter. Negotiators have failed to make a deal that does not violate the accord or create a situation in which a hard border or no border would be placed between the two countries. Global onlookers have cautioned that any alterations to the Good Friday Agreement could put peace between the two countries at risk.
Truss served as foreign secretary under her predecessor, Boris Johnson, before taking on her new role. In that position, she unsuccessfully tried to engage with the EU over the Northern Ireland issue, which had reached a stalemate, before pushing unilateral changes through the British Parliament to ease the flow of goods within the U.K. Truss also went as far as to try to dissolve the Northern Ireland protocol altogether through parliamentary measures, though that effort failed.
The EU has insisted that the U.K. should maintain an internal border on its own territory so as to avoid having one between the U.K. and the EU in Ireland. Both Brexit negotiators and Truss have been unable to move them on the issue.
President Joe Biden, who Truss referenced, and other top U.S. leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), have warned against making any moves that disrupt peace in Northern Ireland. Both have said publicly they would not approve a new U.S.-U.K. trade agreement without guarantees that the border issue would be addressed.
Truss discussed her views on the United States and the U.S.-U.K. relationship with Tapper after he asked her to address concerns that she was not as committed to maintaining it as her predecessors had been.
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“I think that the U.S. is an incredibly close partner of the U.K. I do think our relationship is special,” the British prime minister said. “And it’s increasingly important at a time when we’re facing threats from Russia, increased assertiveness from China. We are both freedom-loving democracies. We have such a strong connection.”
Pressed further on the matter, Truss dug in, saying: “I’m personally a huge fan of the United States of America. And it’s a country I’ve traveled a lot in. It’s a country that we share so many values and core beliefs in, and I’m determined that we make the special relationship even more special over the coming years.”
