Sunak confirms contacts with Boris Johnson amid doubts about the support that the agreement with the EU will arouse

MADRID, 28 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, has confirmed contacts with former leader Boris Johnson about the agreement announced on Monday with the European Union to try to resolve the pending dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol, among doubts about the consensus that may generate what is known as the Windsor Framework among unionists and hard-line 'brexiters'.

One of the potential critics would be Johnson, under whose command London took steps to unilaterally challenge the Protocol and defends a complete break with the EU. "Of course I have spoken with the prime minister," Sunak claimed on Tuesday, during an interview with the BBC prior to a trip to Belfast where he will discuss the issue with Northern Irish parties.

However, the current Downing Street tenant has called for not falling into personalities: "This is not about us, it is not about Westminster. It is about the people of Northern Ireland and what is best for them."

In Belfast, Sunak's main challenge will be to convince the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to whom he will convey, among other messages, that "less than 3 percent of EU laws" will continue to apply in Northern Ireland and there will be no controls for freight traffic within the UK.

The British 'premier' has also stressed that the new agreement continues to guarantee "there will be no border" with Ireland, Northern Ireland's gateway to the common European market, and that the Northern Irish Parliament will have an 'emergency brake' to have the last word on future measures.

The British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, has stressed in statements to Sky News that such a brake will mean "real power" for the Northern Irish parties and has stated that London has listened "very, very carefully" to all the concerns raised in recent months by the unionists, who keep the institutionality in Northern Ireland blocked.

However, the head of British diplomacy has avoided assessing the risk that the DUP would undo the agreement announced on Monday, pending how the contacts evolve in the coming days.