Foreign secretary finalises Brexit deal with Brussels

Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal for Northern Ireland was formally signed off at a meeting last Friday in London, after a Conservative rebellion against the deal failed. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, adopted the new arrangements for Northern Ireland at a meeting with the European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič. It came after Sunak won the overwhelming backing of MPs for the Windsor framework, which seeks to overcome trade problems with the Northern Ireland protocol struck in the original Brexit deal.

Boris Johnson was one of the 22 Tory MPs who refused to back the revised deal, along with the Democratic Unionist party, but they failed to stop the new arrangements. The plan was also opposed by Sunak’s predecessor as prime minister, Liz Truss. In a joint statement, Cleverly and Šefčovič said they had met in a “constructive atmosphere”.