Britain’s Minister of State for Northern Ireland has apologised to the Irish government and the European Union for his previous ‘ferocious’ stance in Brexit negotiations.
Conservative MP Steve Baker, a leading Brexiteer, was speaking during his party’s conference where he told delegates that British relations with Ireland are “not where they should be”.
“What we can see here is a real change in the attitude from everyone. I think that people have really begun to realise that to respect the Good Friday Agreement does mean respecting all three strands,” Baker said.
“As a unionist said to me recently, they have seen a constitutional change without their consent through the [Northern Ireland] protocol. Of course others will argue that they have seen constitutional change though having left the European Union without their consent.
“Now is the time to really move on and accept the Belfast Good Friday Agreement as the fundamental fact which brings peace and enables government in Northern Ireland,” the MP continued.
“But the thing I want to add is that as one of the people who perhaps acted with the most ferocious determination to get the UK out of the EU, I think we have to bring some humility to the situation.
“And it’s with humility that I want to accept and acknowledge that I and others did not always behave in a fashion which encouraged Ireland and the European Union to trust us to accept that they have legitimate interests.
“Legitimate interests that we’re willing to respect because they do and we are willing to respect them.
“I’m sorry about that because relations with Ireland are not where they should be and we all need to work extremely hard to improve them. I know that we are doing so.”
Baker told the Conservative party conference that following the death of Queen Elizabeth he had the opportunity to meet “leading Irish figures” and apologise for not respecting Irish interests in Brexit talks.
He also outlined his “resolve” to make progress on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“But I should also say that the counterpoint to that is resolve. No-one should underestimate our resolve and this government’s resolve to get progress on the protocol,” he said.
“It is not acceptable that Northern Ireland is so separate from GB [Great Britain] right now under the protocol; the protocol which at the moment is only partially implemented.
“We are absolutely resolute in getting change. That change is set out in the bill that we have presented which is going through parliament in the House of Lords.
“But that combination of humility and resolve and that willingness to build up relations and say ‘actually yes, we do want to be Ireland’s closest friends and partners as we all respect all three strands of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement’.
“That really is where we need to be and I think what we’re seeing is that the mood is shifting and that people do want negotiated solution,” Baker said.