UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday made the first visit by a British leader to Ireland in five years, vowing to “reset” damaged post-Brexit relations between the neighbouring nations.
The visit, described by Downing Street as a “historic moment for UK-Ireland relations”, signals a further warming in ties that had frayed under the UK’s previous Conservative government.
Irish counterpart Simon Harris welcomed Starmer to Dublin, with the pair shaking hands and posing for photographs before heading for talks.
“Today we’re in Dublin to flesh out what a reset actually looks like… in a practical sense for our citizens on both islands,” Harris said at the beginning of the talks.
“And I certainly know that it has to be embedded in things like peace, prosperity, mutual respect and friendship.”
Starmer added that the reset was “really important to me and my government”.
“(It) can be meaningful. It can be deep,” he said.
After the talks, Starmer’s office issued a statement saying that both leaders noted the existing ties between the countries but “agreed they wanted to go even further — in particular on trade and investment to help boost growth and deliver on behalf of the British and Irish people.
“In that vein, they agreed to host the first UK-Ireland summit in March next year, which will take forward co-operation in key areas of mutual interest such as security, climate, trade and culture,” it added.
Both leaders condemned recent riots in England and Ireland and agreed to deepen their collaboration tackling online misinformation, said Downing Street.
They also stressed the importance of their joint roles as guardians of the Good Friday Agreement, the landmark peace accord brokered in 1998 that ended decades of sectarian violence in the British province of Northern Ireland.
Shift in tone
Harris, who became taoiseach (prime minister) in April, was the first international leader hosted by Starmer in the UK after his landslide election win in July.
The pair chatted over pints of Ireland’s national drink, Guinness, at the British prime minister’s country residence, Chequers, northwest of London, before a larger meeting of European leaders.
The focus on “resetting” British-Irish relations marks a notable shift in language after the last few years saw tensions rise between Dublin and London.
Britons narrowly voted to exit the European Union in a referendum in 2016 and the country finally left the bloc in 2020 after years of political division and stalemate.
Conservative former prime minister Boris Johnson’s hard break from the EU was widely seen as destabilising relations between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Since taking power, Starmer has moved to begin the repeal of a law granting conditional immunity to perpetrators of crimes during Northern Ireland’s decades of sectarian violence.
The move has been fiercely opposed by relatives of those who lost their lives in “The Troubles”.
During Saturday’s encounter, the leaders reaffirmed the Good Friday Agreement and their commitment to reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
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