Johnson underlined the UK’s position on the Northern Ireland protocol and the need to maintain both the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Britain when he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also in June.

Under the protocol, a part of the post-Brexit trade deal reached between London and Brussels in 2019, food products from Britain to the EU will have to enter through new border control posts at Northern Ireland’s ports.

Northern Ireland will continue to apply EU customs rules at its ports, to allow goods to flow into the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU. This is known as the Irish sea border, a new trade border between Northern Ireland and other parts of Britain.

The Belfast Agreement, or the Good Friday Agreement, is a set of agreements signed between the British and Irish governments as well as the major political parties in Northern Ireland on Good Friday, April 10, 1998, which is viewed as a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. This agreement helped to end a period of conflict in the region.