Boris Johnson has said issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol are “eminently solvable” amid a further escalation of political and societal tensions over the terms of his Brexit divorce deal.
The prime minister has insisted “goodwill and common sense” will deliver resolutions to contentious post-Brexit Irish Sea trading arrangements.
The bloc is considering legal action against the UK after the government said it would extend grace periods for Irish Sea border checks to help British businesses.
The EU has also shelved plans to approve the Brexit deal because it believes the UK has “violated” the agreement.
“The conference of presidents this morning decided not to agree a date to ratify the TCA, pending developments yesterday,” one EU source toldThe Independent.
Elsewhere, the chancellor’s decision to cut £16bn from public spending has been criticised, with the director of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank saying it will cause “real additional pain”,
Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday that a further £4bn would be cut, following the £12bn reduction he outlined in last year’s spending review.
IFS director Paul Johnson said the spending figures look “implausibly low”, adding that he would bet against them being achieved.
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