Prime minister is hailed for his achievement in facing down Tory rebels and winning over the EU to break trade deadlock
Rishi Sunak’s Windsor framework has been welcomed, at least initially, on the front pages in the UK and Ireland, as a way to break the Brexit impasse over Northern Ireland.
Some papers look ahead to the blue skies of greater European cooperation, while others focus on the potential storm clouds ahead if Tory rebels or the Democratic Unionist party opt to reject it.
The Times says simply “Brexit breakthrough” and leads with Sunak’s claim that the UK had “taken back control” via a veto on new EU laws that affect Northern Ireland (now known as the “Stormont brake”). Its second story puzzles over who exactly proposed getting EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to meet King Charles, given everyone seems to be denying it.
The Guardian shows a smiling Sunak and von der Leyen shaking hands under the headline: “PM hails ‘new chapter’ in relations with EU after Northern Ireland deal”. The standfirst carries a hint of the obstacles that lie ahead for Sunak in the form of hardline Brexiters in his party.
