Northern Ireland: Rishi Sunak’s big test
Political Fix
Financial Times
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
A deal to resolve the bitter dispute over post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland was due this week but the UK prime minister appears to have a fight on his hands to stop it unravelling as he faces opposition from Tory Eurosceptics and the Democratic Unionist party. Is Sunak facing a moment of truth on his authority? Plus, a new report revealed the dire state of Britain’s public services and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer laid out his five “missions” to sort out the country.
Presented by George Parker, with deputy political editor Jim Pickard, columnist Robert Shrimsley, Ireland correspondent Jude Webber and special guest Hannah White, director of the Institute for Government. Produced by Anna Dedhar and Manuela Saragosa. The sound engineer was Breen Turner.
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Transcript
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| 1:01.6 | relaunched with a new format and a new name. |
| 1:04.7 | Coming up, are we looking at the moment of truth on Northern Ireland for the Prime Minister? |
| 1:09.3 | If he gets a deal with the EU, there could be trouble. |
| 1:12.0 | If he doesn't, there could be double, as the clash once said. |
| 1:15.6 | I'll be discussing the question with our columnist Robert Strimsley and our |
| 1:18.8 | Ireland correspondent Jude Weber. |
| 1:21.6 | Plus the dire state of public services were laid bare by the Institute for |
| 1:25.7 | Government this week. Here, Starma set out his five missions |
| 1:29.4 | to sort out the country and the Treasury got a £30 billion windfall. |
| 1:33.8 | A lot to get our teeth into there. We'll get the lowdown from the FTE's Jim Picard |
| 1:38.4 | and Hannah White from the IFG. |
| 1:42.2 | Richie Sunack faces many questions in his attempt to strike a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol, |
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