After meeting in London, UK foreign secretary James Cleverly and European Commission vice president Maroš Šefčovič announced an agreement had been reached on the "way forward regarding the specific question of the EU's access to UK IT systems."
The meeting was described as “cordial and constructive” in a joint statement, and it was widely perceived as a significant step towards the improvement of UK-EU relations and the unlocking of the Northern Ireland protocol.
The new deal will allow EU officials to access a live information system detailing goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, which remains subject to the bloc's sanitary and regulatory standards under the current Brexit agreement.
However, the EU's commitment to protecting the single market has required tougher controls on goods imported from Britain - a move that has infuriated British unionists in Northern Ireland, which fear it would undermine the nation's...