UK PM Johnson calls for urgent EU action to sort post-Brexit N. Ireland problems

The European Union needs to take urgent action to resolve problems with the implementation of the post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the province's first minister on Wednesday.

Following a call with Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster, a spokesman from Johnson's office said: "The Prime Minister said that we needed urgent action from the EU to resolve outstanding problems with Protocol implementation, so as to preserve the gains of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and to ensure that Northern Ireland benefits in full from the UK's exit from the EU."

Speaking later in parliament Johnson said the EU's move last week to restrict export of vaccines to Northern Ireland, which Brussels swiftly abandoned, had "seemed to cast doubt" on the principles of the peace process in the province which avoids a hard border with EU member Ireland. "We will work to ensure that there are no such borders, we will respect the peace process and, indeed, no barriers down the Irish Sea, and that the principle of unfettered access to all parts of the United Kingdom is upheld," he said.