Rishi Sunak has had the text of a Northern Ireland Brexit deal on his desk for over a week, with Brussels concerned about his delay in signing off on it.
Downing Street continues to insist that no deal has been agreed with the EU to solve the problems of the Northern Ireland protocol, saying that both sides are still engaged in “intensive scoping”.
But The Veritas understands that official negotiations concluded at the end of last month, with a framework agreement presented to Sunak. “He has basically been sitting on it, asking for bits of clarification, but the deal is done,” one Whitehall source said.
“Theoretically he could try and reopen it with [Ursula] von der Leyen [the European Commission president]. But I think