Britain Tells EU on Brexit Deal: It Wasn’t Going to Last Forever

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Updated: Jul 22, 2021, 06:49 UTC

LONDON (Reuters) - British Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the European Union had been inflexible over renegotiating the Northern Ireland part of the Brexit divorce deal and cautioned Brussels that it was not a deal that would last for ever.

Flags of the Union Jack and European Union are seen ahead of the meeting of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in Brussels, Belgium December 9, 2020. Olivier Hoslet/Pool via REUTERS

“A deal is a deal but it wasn’t something that was going to last forever,” Kwarteng told Sky. “It was something that was flexible and we want to make it work more smoothly.”

“Article 16 … it is something that we could do, to suspend it, we’ve chosen not to do that, that’s not our opening position and we want to be able to negotiate and have a conversation with the EU about how best to go forward.”

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton)

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