Sunak has used a lot of Political Credit on sorting out the Northern Ireland Protocol deal ...

My hair style and colour was similar before I got old😡, particularly when I worked.

The Stormont break is one of the sticking points I reckon with the DUP.

Horizon Europe - good news indeed!

I’m neither a Conservative nor a particular fan of Sunak, but for the sake of friends and family in NI I am very glad this is happening.

Well - I’m impressed! Very!! Well done Sunak & Vd Leyen!
Honestly Somy has better than I was hoping for on many issues.

Anyone else pick up on the love-fest between the two protagonists? Ursula beaming and so beautiful. She seems genuinely to like Rishi.

I love her hair WhiteWave so lucky you in your working life!

Wonder how Starmer feels because this is really a feather in the cap for Sunak. If all goes well - ‘immediately’ as Ursula says - I can see Sunak’s popularity rising exponentially.

Horizon too. Medicines in NI. Trees, seed potatoes and so much more. So much good for citizens there. Whoop whoop!

Beth ‘my sources tell me’ Rigby from SKY News never got to ask a question, even though she was front row & centre! Her hand kept shooting up. Bit of a snub.

I know it’s a small detail but I like it being called the ‘Windsor Agreement’. Those 3 words the ‘Northern Ireland Protocol’ have been enough to glaze over most people’s eyes over the years.

Hopefully this is Good News and time to move on.

Sunak has played a blinder and pulled the rug from under Johnson and the ERG.

Let's see how the DUP responds.

Whitewavemark2

I do! The EU bod I am talking about😄

I agree, I have often admired her sleek, flawless unfussy hair.

Irrelevant, of course, but worth commenting on.

I too am relieved that we seem, at last, to be on the way to getting this resolved. I was angry when that little Pipsqueak Francois was spouting out about whether the ERG would agree. I don't remember them being on the ballot paper at the last election, does anyone else? Minority group within a minority government. I hope Sunak makes it clear who is in charge here, and good on Starmer too for seeing what is best for the country, not just for his party.

Riverwalk Sunak has indeed played a blinder. I’m truly amazed and delighted. Both sides must have worked really hard on this. Both teams.

And genuine reciprocal bonhomie was the mood music.

Maybe the war in Ukraine has dialled down the Brexit rhetoric in that ‘surely we, as Allies, can work something out?’.

You know it's a big day when the TV helicopter is following the PM's motorcade.

Well fingers crossed - to be honest I don’t think the country would tolerate a Johnson run rebellion - but the DUP is a law unto itself and let’s hold our breath over that.

Johnson is a coward - he never actually came out and said anything or gave interviews where he could be seriously questioned these past weeks, just friends and acolytes made it known he was on manoeuvres.

Well I hope that has all backfired on Johnson and this deal comes to fruition.

Anything that winds up the ERG and the Unionist throwbacks gets a cheer from me.

I fear the DUP will do their utmost to nitpick, ‘just because’, which would be a shame because this is a huge step forward for NI.

Whitewavemark2

Ursula

ah, yes.

Her hair was great too, and she knew what was what, Betty

www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-47872635

The DUP will hasten reunification if they tear this apart, just what they and their supporters do not want. Sorry, but they will only have themselves to blame.

I’m genuinely delighted to see this progress, and what looks like a far more productive and less adversarial relationship with the EU emerging.

Delighted to see that Sunak is scrapping Johnson’s currently paused in Parliament NI Protocol bill.

Delighted to see this means the UK will re-engage with the Horizon programme.

Delighted with some of the very clever framing of key issues: eg, the Stormont Brake being presented as a response to one of the moronic DUP’s ‘tests’, when it’s actually a standard clause in EU treaties.

Obviously delighted that the GFA is not threatened by this.

But (there’s always a but): this should not be seen as either a triumph for the Tories, when it’s only taking some steps to clear up a mess of their own making; and it shouldn’t be framed as EU concessions. The EU, it seems to me at the moment, having not read the details, have offered pretty much what they’ve always offered, and Sunak, unlike that fool Johnson, has the sense to know the UK really has more to lose than the EU by rejecting sensible arrangements.

And the largest but: but why do Tories always lie so unnecessarily and obviously? Sunak has been banging on that the deal means no border, which is plainly just not true.

Siope I agree with you on so many points!
I’m feeling ‘progress has been made’ and truly hope for better times ahead. Maybe those ‘sunny uplands’? Haha!

To be honest I voted for Brexit.
I was ecstatic at the result.
Then deflated (indicative votes in Parliament anyone?)
Finally pragmatic. Let’s make the best of what freedoms from divergence we have with the best of what ‘can be’.

Life is rarely ‘all or nothing’ or black and white.

This is inded fabulous news, and I so hope it will be made to work and not scuppered by the extremists.

I am afraid Urmstongran, that it will make no difference to the situation re imports and exports from the UK to EU, and vice-versa.

Just watching Parliament- are the usual suspects present, Johnson, Rees Mogg, etc?

It will be interesting to see what they have to say.

Urmstongran

Siope I agree with you on so many points!
I’m feeling ‘progress has been made’ and truly hope for better times ahead. Maybe those ‘sunny uplands’? Haha!

To be honest I voted for Brexit.
I was ecstatic at the result.
Then deflated (indicative votes in Parliament anyone?)
Finally pragmatic. Let’s make the best of what freedoms from divergence we have with the best of what ‘can be’.

Life is rarely ‘all or nothing’ or black and white.

No Ug there are no gray areas regarding brexit.

Brexit has been a disaster - the worst thing that has happened to the UK in my lifetime.

You and the rest of the Leave voters were warned. You were told the truth but you chose not to believe it.

What is so hurtful is that you and another 17 million of our citizens were persuaded to vote Leave in a fraudulent referendum and thus inflicted this harm on our country.

I remember you being an enthusiastic leaver Ug but I also remember you being an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump. Did you not say "you liked powerful men"?

You were wrong about Trump and about Brexit. It might be very hard for you to admit it but you were wrong.

I doubt if Jacob Rees Mogg is there. He has a news slot on GB News at 8 o/ clock.

MerylStreep

I doubt if Jacob Rees Mogg is there. He has a news slot on GB News at 8 o/ clock.

I can’t bear to watch him, I would be throwing my shoe at the TV, but I expect he will be acting as the mouthpiece of the ERG, so if anybody can stomach him please report back with what he says?

Willbe interesting to see who will be in The House for PMQ on wednesday!

Riverwalk

Johnson is a coward - he never actually came out and said anything or gave interviews where he could be seriously questioned these past weeks, just friends and acolytes made it known he was on manoeuvres.

Well I hope that has all backfired on Johnson and this deal comes to fruition.

For goodness sake, any chance of a jab. He’s not involving himself in front-line UK politics anymore, so get over it!