No 10 defends handling of Northern Ireland Protocol talks
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No 10 has insisted it is engaging with DUP and Conservative MPs as the prime minister seeks agreement with the EU on post-Brexit rules in Northern Ireland.
Rishi Sunak is trying to resolve issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol, introduced after the UK left the EU.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said further EU concessions were needed before a new deal could be agreed.
Ex-minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said agreement was doomed without approval from unionist parties and Brexit MPs.
Sir Jeffrey said a new deal "is possible" within the "next few days".
But the EU would need to accept that goods traded within Northern Ireland were subject to UK laws and standards for the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) to agree, he added.
Hopes that changes can be made this week have faded somewhat, although Downing Street suggest a deal could still happen soon.
Earlier, the prime minister told his cabinet ministers that attempts to reach a deal were focused on safeguarding Northern Ireland's place in the UK, protecting the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement and ensuring the free flow of trade in the UK internal market.
The current rules, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, were negotiated by Boris Johnson and came into force in 2021.
They introduced checks on goods sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, to get round the need for checks at the UK's border with the Republic of Ireland.
The rules have proved highly unpopular among unionists in Northern Ireland, and soured relations between the UK and EU.
In protest at the rules, the DUP boycotted power-sharing in Northern Ireland, meaning it has been without a functioning devolved government since February of last year.
A majority of members of the Stormont assembly are in favour of the protocol in some form remaining in place.
Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party and the SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party) have said improvements to the protocol are needed to ease its implementation.
British and European negotiators have been locked in talks for over a year to secure changes that will satisfy business groups and politicians.
'Life doesn't work like that'
On his Conservative Home podcast, Mr Rees-Mogg argued there was "no point" agreeing a deal which does not have the support of the DUP.
"I don't know why so much political capital has been spent on something without getting the DUP and the ERG (European Research Group of Conservative MPs) onside first," he said.
He likened Mr Sunak's approach to that of former-Prime Minister Theresa May who, he said, had presented a policy in the hope that people would "conveniently fall in behind" it, he said.
"Life doesn't work like that. It's important to get support for it first before you finalise the details and that doesn't seem to have been done here."
Both the DUP and some Conservative MPs think Mr Sunak made a mistake to travel to Belfast at the end of last week, unannounced, to try, as some saw it, to "bounce" the Democratic Unionists into agreement, the BBC's Chris Mason and Jess Parker report.
"He jumped the gun," said one Tory MP, privately.
'Dead letter'
"There isn't a deal to be done. It is back to the drawing board," said another Conservative backbencher.
In his podcast, Mr Rees-Mogg urged Mr Sunak to pass the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would give the UK government the power to rip up parts of the current arrangement with the EU.
His comments echo those of former-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who over the weekend urged his successor not to ditch the proposed law.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman also appeared to indicate her support, describing the legislation as one of the "biggest tools" to solving issues over trade in the Irish Sea.
But former Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland has argued that the since the bill was introduced in 2022, the situation had changed.
Writing in the House magazine, he said: "The [bill] has outlived its political usefulness and no longer has any legal justification. It is the proverbial dead letter."
A deal which the prime minister said was within touching distance could yet slip through his fingers.
Rishi Sunak has been feeling the heat on two front - the DUP and his own backbench Tory MPs.
It is a formidable force for a prime minister desperate to avoid confrontation within a deeply divided Tory party.
But he doesn't need DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to say yes to a deal - he just needs him not to say no.
That would allow the UK and EU to publish their protocol deal and begin the job of selling it beyond the DUP to businesses in Northern Ireland.
But as every day passes without a deal being struck Rishi Sunak will start feeling the heat from Brussels.
On Tuesday, the prime minister's spokesman told reporters "intensive negotiations continue" between the UK and EU but added that unresolved issues and "long-lasting challenges" needed to be addressed.
He rejected suggestions the DUP and Conservative Brexiter MPs had not been sufficiently involved.
"We have been speaking to relative parties at the appropriate times throughout this process," he said adding that "engagement will continue as we continue to negotiate".
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris held fresh talks with European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking ahead of that meeting, Mr Sefcovic told reporters that the "finishing line" on the talks could "clearly" be seen but added "being close doesn't mean being done".
Last week, Mr Sunak went to Belfast to meet politicians in Northern Ireland and then Germany, where he met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, raising speculation that an agreement was imminent.