2024-09-10 00:06:15
Britain and Ireland said today they were moving “from conflict to friendship” during British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Dublin in a bid to improve ties with the Republic of Ireland and the wider European Union, Reuters reported.
Starmer, the first British prime minister to visit Ireland in five years, spoke with Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris, less than two months after hosting Harris at his residence in Checkers following his Labor party’s victory in the UK election. BTA.
“Now is the time for a new beginning. This is the time we give meaning to those words,” Starmer said. He said he wanted better cooperation with EU countries and hoped to improve diplomatic and trade relations without revising the fundamental basis of Britain’s exit from the EU.
Britain’s decision to leave the EU after the 2016 Brexit referendum has strained relations between the two countries as trade rules governing Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom and shares a land border with EU member Ireland, have become in a major obstacle to reaching an agreement.