LONDON: Britain and the European Union need to reset their relationship after trust was eroded by a row over vaccine supplies, British minister Michael Gove said on Monday, calling for a refinement of a deal covering post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland.
Since Britain completed its journey out of the EU’s orbit at the beginning of this year, trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom has become a flashpoint for ties with the bloc.
Ties are strained, not only by years of bruising Brexit negotiations, but after the EU announced its plans for export controls on vaccines and threatened to use emergency measures that could create a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.
The EU swiftly changed position, but London hopes to capitalise on the gaffe, which united British politicians in their criticism, by trying to gain changes to the part of the Brexit divorce deal which covers trade with Northern Ireland.
“It was a…