Truss says she wants to ‘urgently resolve’ Northern Ireland Brexit row

Truss says she wants to ‘urgently resolve’ Northern Ireland Brexit row

Liz Truss, Britain’s foreign secretary, said on Tuesday she wants to “urgently resolve” the UK-EU dispute over post-Brexit trading relations in Northern Ireland, to allow both sides to focus on global challenges.

Truss, who on Sunday replaced Lord David Frost as the chief negotiator on the Northern Ireland protocol, said she wanted to “unleash the potential” of the UK-EU relationship, blighted by post-Brexit feuding.

In a statement after her first conversation with her negotiating counterpart, European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, Truss made it clear she stood by the softer line adopted by the UK in talks in recent days.

“We want a constructive relationship with the EU, underpinned by trade and our shared belief in freedom and democracy,” she said. “Resolving the current issues is critical to unleashing that potential.”

Truss, who travelled to Washington in September, is also aware that the row over Northern Ireland is souring relations with the US and holding up the removal of US sanctions against British metals exports.

Some in Brussels fear that Truss, who supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, might take a tougher line than Frost to cement her relationship with rightwing Eurosceptic Tory MPs.

But Truss said the UK position “has not changed” since she replaced