Starmer to urge Sunak to put NI above 'Brexit purity cult'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is to urge Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to put Northern Ireland "above a Brexit purity cult" within the Conservative Party.

He is offering to help get a protocol deal through parliament if it fails to win enough support from Tory MPs.

Sir Keir is on a two-day visit to NI.

On Thursday, he met political parties at Stormont to discuss the protocol issue, describing those talks as constructive.

Protests by the Democratic Unionist Party against the protocol led to the collapse of Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive last February.

In a speech at Queen's University Belfast later, he will urge Mr Sunak to use this year's 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement to "fix minds" on securing a deal with the EU over the protocol.

In his speech, Sir Keir will say that the "time for action on the protocol is now" and he will urge the prime minister to stand up to hardline Eurosceptics within the Conservative Party.

"The time to put Northern Ireland above a Brexit purity cult, which can never be satisfied, is now," Sir Keir will say.

"There is a small window of opportunity before April - we've got to use the anniversary to fix minds, get the country and its political process moving forward again - deliver for the people of Northern Ireland.

"Whatever political cover you need, whatever mechanism in Westminster you require, if it delivers for our national interest and the people of Northern Ireland we will support you."

Sir Keir Starmer has pitched himself as a prime minister in waiting during his talks with local politicians and business leaders.

While he hasn't offered any solutions to the protocol problems, he has offered his support to the government to get a deal through Parliament.

It is an offer the government is unlikely to take up.

With a 70-plus majority in Parliament and two high profile Brexiteers in Northern Ireland Office Ministers Chris Heaton Harris and Steve Baker helping to steer the protocol negotiations, the government is unlikely to meet much internal resistance.

Securing the support of the DUP for any deal agreed with Brussels will be the real challenge.

Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar also visited Stormont on Thursday to hold talks with party leaders.

Afterwards, he said there was no guarantee a deal on the protocol would lead to the re-establishment of the Stormont Executive.

Part of the UK's Brexit deal with the EU, the protocol keeps Northern Ireland aligned with the EU's single market for goods, avoiding the need for a hard border with the Republic of Ireland and ensuring free trade can continue.

But it has led to additional checks on some goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, something the EU accepts is causing difficulties for many businesses.

Most politicians elected to the Stormont Assembly want the protocol to remain, but some unionists say it undermines Northern Ireland's place in the UK.

The UK government has argued the protocol is not working and plans to override most of the agreement if the EU does not agree to changes.

The government set a deadline of 19 January for the parties at Stormont to form a power-sharing executive or face fresh elections.

But the DUP has said it will block the restoration of power sharing until there are significant changes to the protocol.

The deadline, therefore, is highly unlikely to be met next week, which means NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is expected to trigger another three-month period to allow the protocol negotiations to make progress.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said the protocol negotiations were were being kept "tight" and that he did not see "much light coming out of them".

However, he added that he appreciated the opportunity to meet both the taoiseach and the Labour leader.

This week's high-profile visits to Belfast of Sir Keir and Mr Varadkar, as well as UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, follow a UK agreement with the EU on customs data sharing.

That agreement was reached in talks on Monday between Mr Cleverly and the Vice President of the European Commission, Maros Šefčovič, which both sides said provided a "new basis" for talks.