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Uk and EU reach Northern Ireland Protocol deal

Uk and EU reach Northern Ireland Protocol deal
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, © PA Wire/PA Images

A deal has been reached between the UK and EU on the Northern Ireland Protocol, according to Newstalk. 

A press conference announcing the deal is due in the next hour.

British prime minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen have been meeting at Windsor.

A deal had been close for a matter of weeks now.

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The Protocol is the deal which avoided a hard border with Northern Ireland by seeing goods checked when they came from the rest of Great Britain into the North.

It's understood this deal drops a lot of those checks which had been a bugbear for unionists.

It comes 2,441 days after the UK voted to leave the EU and more than 160 weeks since Brexit came into legal effect.

We know the British Government and the EU are onside, the question now is who else?

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It is unknown if Rishi Sunak will get passed the MPs in his party who support a hardline Brexit. 

It is also unknown if the DUP will agree with the deal, and without them onside, powersharing will not resume in the North.

If that was to be the case, the whole situation would have been for nothing.

The details of the negotiations have been kept strictly confidential but should be revealed later today.

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Mr Sunak will put the deal to his cabinet this afternoon; however, a vote by is not expected in the next day or two.

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