Rishi Sunak has said he wants to deepen ties between the UK and Ireland after a “very positive” first face-to-face meeting with the taoiseach, Micheál Martin, before the British-Irish Council summit in Blackpool. He said he was pleased with progress on the Northern Ireland protocol dispute and was determined to end the impasse over the Stormont assembly. “I think we all recognise that the protocol is having a real impact on the ground, on families, on businesses in Northern Ireland, threatening Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom. And I want to resolve that,” he said. “I’m deeply committed to the Belfast Good Friday agreement. I want to see the institutions back up and running in Northern Ireland, because that’s what the people in Northern Ireland need and deserve.” He added: “I’m pleased with the progress that we’re making in these early days in this job, and my focus is to try and find a resolution here.” It is the first time a British prime minister has attended the twice-yearly summit – which was set up under the Good Friday agreement – since Gordon Brown 15 years ago. Martin described Sunak’s decision to attend as “significant”. “The mood music is improving, we now need to translate that into a resolution, a negotiated resolution between the United Kingdom and the European Union,” the taoiseach said. “[Sunak] took the earliest opportunity to engage with me and we appreciate that.” Downing Street said the prime minister wanted to “deepen UK-Irish ties” after relations neared breaking point over Brexit in the past six years. Efforts to rebuild broken relations with Ireland and the EU have already brought more frequent engagement between Dublin and London in the two months since Boris Johnson left Downing Street. Martin said he was delighted to visit the north-west of England before the summit. “The ties with Ireland are strong, from family to football, values and trade, and we’re determined to strengthen those bonds,” he said.
The summits are normally attended by the taoiseach and first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as representatives of the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. The prime minister also met the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, and the first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, at the summit. Sturgeon, who said the meeting had been “cordial and constructive”, used the discussions to challenge Westminster to demand more money for the NHS, saying ministers in Scotland were “at the limit of what we can do with what is effectively a fixed budget”. She also raised her plans to hold a second Scottish independence referendum, telling Sunak she intended to “honour that mandate … with or without the UK government’s agreement”. Also in attendance were the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, and the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove.