Sunak is selling his solution to the Northern Ireland problem

Despite achieving what seemed impossible — reaching an agreement with the European Union (EU) to resolve the problems that the application of the protocol Brexit for Northern Ireland was generated by—, Rishi Sunak You know you can’t finish the task yet. That is why this Tuesday the British Prime Minister launched a campaign to sell the so-called Windsor Framework Agreement between Unionist Protestants and Brexiters more radical in his party.

“This agreement is a big positive step forward”assured the president from Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, where he traveled early in the morning and where he not only met with the leaders of the main political formations of the British province, but also answered the questions of some citizens during the event in the warehouse of the soft drinks factory.

“The concern that they [por los unionistas] they had about the protocol, that they said they felt they had no sovereignty and that there was a democratic deficit in the protocol… so that was corrected. We gave more powers to the Assembly [autonómica] Stormont, to those people [los unionistas]said the Prime Ministerwho nevertheless promised to give the protesters from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) the necessary “time and space” to review the text.

But in selling the benefits of the agreement, Sunak used an argument more worthy of those who defended the permanence of the United Kingdom in the EU than those who, like him, advocated divorce. “If we implement this framework, if we can get executive power [autonómico] work again Northern Ireland will find itself in an incredibly special position, a unique position in the entire world., on the European continent, with preferential access, not only to the internal market of the United Kingdom, which is huge, the fifth largest in the world, but also to the single market of the EU. No one else has that. Nobody. Only you. And that’s the reward.”

The words of the conservative president were taken up by independent MPs of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), who believe that they confirm that Scotland will be damaged Brexit.

The signals that Protestant unionism has given so far are contradictory. Thus, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson admitted that the Windsor Framework Agreement represents “significant progress”, although some “problems remain”. However, some radical and minority sectors of unionism have already called for the text to be rejected, arguing that Northern Ireland will remain subject to the EU’s design.

Meeting with your party

After a round of contacts in Belfast, Sunak returned to London and met with Tory Brexiters European investigative group, before which he was convinced that the DUP would eventually support the agreement. But in case this is not done, it is assumed that the text will also be implemented.

According to what the British press reports, Sunak was firm in front of the most faithful Brexit and warned them of the risks of attempting to boycott the pact. “The last thing people want now is another Westminster drama”he snapped at them.

Silent figures like former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg and David Frost are raising fears of some nasty political surprises, but it remains to be seen whether they will dare.