Sunak gears up for biggest political test with Brexit deal

By Ellen Milligan

RISHI SUNAK is gearing up for the biggest political test of his premiership as he prepares to unveil a deal with the European Union that risks a standoff with Northern Ireland unionists and members of his own party.

A solution t o the impasse in Northern Ireland would enable the UK to reset relations with the EU, its biggest trading partner, more than the three years after Britain formally left the bloc. The prime minister also hopes to persuade the Democratic Unionist Party to drop its veto on the formation of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive. They’ve blocked its functioning for more than a year in protest at the so-called protocol, the portion of the Brexit deal governing the region’s unique place in the EU and UK’s trading markets.

Though the timing of a final agreement remains fluid, plans have been drawn up for an announcement as soon as this week. Sunak oversaw a diplomatic flurry in recent days, holding meetings with parties in Northern Ireland and with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to lay the groundwork.

D espite newspaper reports of a Monday announcement, it’s now likely to be pushed back by at least a day as Sunak continues to engage with the EU and the DUP, a senior government official said.

Sunak’s approach toward his own Tory MPs switched course over the weekend. Having kept even most ministers in the dark about the status of a deal so far, government whips began contacting MPs on Saturday for their views on the shape of a final agreement. They echoed Sunak’s words at the Munich Security Conference, telling MPs that progress had been made but more work was required.

That sparked the revival of old Brexit debates in WhatsApp group chats of Tory MPs over the weekend, with the role of the European Court of Justice in Northern Ireland at the forefront of their minds.

Though Sunak has secured 90 percent of his demands in the talks with the EU, he’s been unable to convince the bloc that the ECJ should have no role in Northern Ireland, people close to the UK side said. The EU, for its part, has assured