Britain and the EU have an understanding on what needs to be done to resolve issues surrounding the Northern Ireland protocol but a deal is “by no means done”, Rishi Sunak has said.

Speaking during a question and answer session after his speech at the Munich Security Conference, the Prime Minister said Britain wanted to have a positive relationship with the bloc.

But he said that there were “real issues that need resolving”.

“The way that the protocol has been implemented, it’s causing very real challenges for families, for people, for businesses on the ground,” he said.

“We’re engaging in those conversations with the European Union all the time and we have been for a while, but what I’d say is there is still work to do.

“There are still challenges to work through. We have not resolved all these issues.

“No, there isn’t a deal that has been done, there is an understanding of what needs to be done.”

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Mr Sunak added that “we’re working through (the issues) hard and we will work through them intensely with the EU, but we are by no means done.”

It comes after Sinn Fein’s leader Mary Lou McDonald said “significant progress” had been made to resolve the row over the Northern Ireland protocol and a deal is “very much game on”.

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Hope of NI Brexit breakthrough

Speaking after talks with Mr Sunak, who was in Northern Ireland yesterday to hold talks with political leaders, she told reporters: “We have always believed that a deal on the protocol was possible and we’ve always known it was necessary.

“It is clear that significant progress has been made and we are very heartened by that. We now want to see a speedy concluding of matters.

“The bottom line is that we have to ensure that any deal provides for ongoing access to the European single market, no hardening of the border on the island of Ireland and a protection of the Good Friday Agreement in all of its parts.

“It seems to us that it’s very much game on.”