UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to visit Belfast on Monday amid the ongoing political impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
As the months-long dispute over the Protocol led to the collapse of Northern Ireland’s Executive and the paralysis of its legislature, Downing Street said Johnson will hold a series of private meetings with the local parties and urge lawmakers to “get back to work to deal with the bread-and-butter issues.”
The spokesperson also said the UK government would “play its part to ensure political stability.”
The Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the UK’s Brexit deal that leaves Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market and customs union. It was created to avoid a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, because a visible border may risk angering Irish nationalists and resurrecting sectarian violence.
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