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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.<\/p>\nBrexit is expected to dominate the agenda as leaders from across the UK and Ireland attend a summit meeting on the Isle of Man later.<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar; Cabinet Office Minister and the UK\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Good Friday peace agreement.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The BIC summit is the last before Brexit and comes amid ongoing deadlock over the thorny issue of the Irish border.<\/p>\n
The UK and EU\u2019s failure to agree a \u201cbackstop\u201d position \u2013 to maintain a free-flowing border even if a wider trade deal fails to materialize \u2013 continues to stand in the way of an agreed exit deal.<\/p>\n
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 North\u2019s rowing politicians.<\/p>\n
UK prime ministers have attended BIC meetings in past, but not on a regular basis and not in recent years.<\/p>\n
At summit meetings in the last two years, Theresa May has been criticized for not attending, given the challenges to the participating governments presented by Brexit.<\/p>\n