NI Protocol: PM is taking people in NI as fools - Starmer
- Published
Sir Keir Starmer was visting NI for the first time as Labour leader.
The government should opt for a veterinary agreement with the EU to help solve the problems over the Northern Ireland Protocol, Sir Keir Starmer has told the BBC.
In his first visit to NI as Labour leader, he said trust was essential if the UK and EU were to move forward.
"The prime minister negotiated this protocol, he wasn't straight about what it meant," he said.
Boris Johnson was trying to "take people in NI as fools", he added.
The new Brexit arrangements mean there are thousands of new checks on goods crossing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, which are strongly opposed by unionists who see it as undermining Northern Ireland's place in the UK.
"A veterinary agreement would be a big step in the right direction, but even more important than that is trust, if we're to find a way forward there has to be trust," Sir Keir said.
The Labour leader visited a summer school in Belfast
The EU has tried to persuade the UK government to align with EU food and agriculture rules in a veterinary agreement which it says would cut down 80% of checks over the Irish sea border.
But the UK government says it cannot accept the Swiss-style agreement because it needs control over its own laws to do trade deals with other countries.
Sir Keir said he believed some kind of veterinary agreement could be made to work.
"I don't think we simply just take what the EU has put on the table, there's got to be flexibility on both sides but the idea of a veterinary agreement in principle is a big step," he said.
"There are practical solutions to this protocol problem, if people are prepared to be flexible and enter it in spirit of trust, at the moment it's that trust that is missing."
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Sir Keir's two-day visit to Northern Ireland began with a trip to a Belfast pub where he watched England's victory over Denmark in the Euro 2020 semi-final.
He is due to meet politicians, senior police officers, Troubles victims and students.
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