s Rishi Sunak close to a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol? - BBC Newsnight

Attempts to break the impasse over the Northern Ireland protocol - the deal covering trade with the EU and Great Britain - have been described by the Democratic Unionists as “hopeful” and by Sinn Fein as “very positive”.

There's a lot riding on it - not just the possibility of getting devolved government back up and running in Northern Ireland, but also changing the wider political atmosphere with the European Union.

Billions in science funding, for example, are being held back by the EU while the Northern Ireland protocol issue remains blocked. That's just one example how both the government and Labour’s aspirations to make Brexit work better depend on a solution.