Rishi Sunak says the relationship between the UK and US is “in great shape” after he held talks with Joe Biden, despite strong criticism of the president from one of Northern Ireland’s main parties.
Mr Biden arrived in the region late last night for his trip to the island of Ireland to mark 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement, and was greeted by the prime minister on the tarmac at Belfast International.
But the president, who often refers to his Irish roots, faced a swathe of criticism from senior figures in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who claimed he was “anti-British” and “hates the UK”.
The White House was forced to deny the accusations, calling them “simply untrue”, and insisting Mr Biden was “a strong supporter” of relations between the countries.
Commentators have also questioned the lack of time Mr Sunak and his US counterpart were spending together on the four-day trip, with only the greeting on Tuesday night and a 45-minute coffee at the Belfast Grand Central Hotel on Wednesday – dubbed a “bi-latte” by one US newspaper – in the diary.
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However, the PM pointed to the fact it was the president’s fourth visit to the UK since taking office, and the pair already had two further meetings set for May and June.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Sunak said: “[Mr Biden] and I had a very good discussion today about a range of issues, [like] economic investment in Northern Ireland, but also a range of foreign policy issues, [like] the importance of economic security, and that comes on the back of a meeting I had with him last month in the US.
“We are very close partners and allies, we cooperate and talk on a range of things – whether that is supporting Ukraine or as I said economic security.
“I think, actually, the relationship is in great shape and the president and I have lots we are working on together.”
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Mr Biden’s visit comes amid ongoing paralysis in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont, with the DUP refusing to re-join the power sharing agreement over the UK government’s post-Brexit arrangements on trade.
Mr Sunak stuck a new deal with the EU back in February, known as the Windsor Framework, in an attempt to solve ongoing issues in the region under the Norther Ireland Protocol.
But despite it getting the overall approval of the Commons, the DUP voted against it, saying Northern Ireland would still be subject to some EU laws, threatening its place in the UK’s internal market.
President Biden met the leaders of the region’s five main political parties – including the DUP’s Sir Jeffrey Donaldson – after his talk with Mr Sunak and before delivering an address at Ulster University this afternoon to commemorate the Good Friday Agreement – the deal that largely ended 30 years of bloodshed between republicans and loyalists.
During his carefully worded speech, Mr Biden said Brexit had created “complex challenges” for Northern Ireland, but said gave his backing to the Windsor Framework, saying it addressed “the practical realities” of Brexit.
The president then urged a return to power sharing at Stormont, saying: “As a friend, I hope it’s not too presumptuous for me to say that I believe democratic institutions established through the Good Friday Agreement remain critical to the future of Northern Ireland.
“It’s a decision for you to make, not me.”
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Sir Jeffrey said his party “want to see the political institutions back up and running”, but any post-Brexit deal needed to ensure Northern Ireland “continues to have access to the whole of the United Kingdom and its internal market and that the arrangements to facilitate trade with the EU don’t get in the way with our ability to trade with our own country”.
Speaking to Sky News after the speech, he added: “I think there is further work that needs to be done [on the framework] and we will engage with the government to see what further can be delivered in terms of respecting and protecting Northern Ireland’s ability to trade within the United Kingdom and its internal market.
“I want to see a solution that works for everyone in Northern Ireland.”
He also revealed Mr Biden “didn’t seek to apply any pressure” on him about a return to Stormont during their one-on-one meeting, saying the president “recognises it is the political leadership here that needs to take the decisions to move forward”.
However, the leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, said Mr Biden had sent “a clear message to the DUP”.
She added: “I think the message here from this visit is going to be one about peace, prosperity and about stability, and that means we need the political leg of things to work as well. I’m committed to making it work.”
Earlier on Wednesday, other members of the DUP launched scathing attacks on the president ahead of his speech in Northern Ireland.
One of the party’s MPs Sammy Wilson claimed Mr Biden had “a record of being pro-Republican, anti-Unionist, anti-British”.
And former first minister of Northern Ireland, Baroness Foster, said the president “hates the UK”.
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Senior director for Europe at the US National Security Council, Amanda Sloat, called the claims “simply untrue”, adding: “The fact that the president is going to be engaging for the third time in three months, and then again next month and then again in June with the prime minister of the UK, shows how close our co-operation is with the UK.
“President Biden obviously is a very proud Irish-American, he is proud of those Irish roots, but he is also a strong supporter of our bilateral partnership with the UK, and not only on a bilateral basis within NATO, the G7, on the UN Security Council, and we truly are working in lockstep with the British government on all of the pressing global challenges that our countries are facing.”
Some have suggested the US president’s time in the region would have been longer had Stormont been sitting – but instead he will cross the border to Ireland this afternoon for a number of engagements, including meeting the Irish president and prime minister in Dublin and a tour of Carlingford Castle in Co Louth, where he traces his roots to.
Downing Street played down claims yesterday that the engagement between Mr Biden and Mr Sunak was “low-key” and scaled back, even though the PM did not stay to watch the president’s speech – with the UK government instead being represented by Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.
