Brexit set to dominate British-Irish meeting - as top Tory warns of risk to peace process

Q Radio News

Brexit is expected to dominate the agenda as leaders from across the UK and Ireland attend a summit meeting on the Isle of Man later.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar; Cabinet Office Minister and the UK's de facto deputy prime minister David Lidington; Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon; and First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones will be among those attending the British Irish Council (BIC) summit.

Representatives of the governments of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man will also participate in the 31st summit meeting of a forum set up as part of Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace agreement.

Northern Ireland ministers have been absent from the twice-yearly gatherings in recent years due to the powersharing crisis at Stormont. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley will attend the event.

Meanwhile, an ex-Attorney General has warned Brexit risks undermining peace and human rights here.

Conservative MP Dominic Grieve gave the annual Amnesty International lecture at the Ulster University in Belfast on Thursday night and spoke with Q Radio...

BREXIT - Former Attorney General warns it risks undermining peace and human rights here. Top Tory Dominic Grieve's been speaking to @goQradio @qnewsdesk More on air throughout the morning and https://t.co/boX2EdCtC7 pic.twitter.com/vysJgRdVfZ

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) November 9, 2018

The BIC summit is the last before Brexit and comes amid ongoing deadlock over the thorny issue of the Irish border.

The UK and EU's failure to agree a "backstop" position - to maintain a free-flowing border even if a wider trade deal fails to materialise - continues to stand in the way of an agreed exit deal.

Mr. Grieve says he's not hopeful of progress at Westminster...

The devolution impasse in Belfast is also set to feature in the political discussions on Friday, with the UK and Irish governments having yet to agree a strategy on how to re-initiate talks between the region's rowing politicians.

The government's former top legal adviser has some advice for getting an administration back up and running at Stormont...

UK prime ministers have attended BIC meetings in past, but not on a regular basis and not in recent years.

At summit meetings in the last two years, Theresa May has been criticised for not attending, given the challenges to the participating governments presented by Brexit.