I wish I had £5 for every time someone claimed to be acting in the best interests of the Good Friday Agreement.

The European Union claims the Northern Ireland Protocol protects the historic accord from the consequences of Brexit.

The President of the United States agrees.

But the UK government claims the trading arrangement, which it coincidentally co-brokered, drives a coach and horses through the 1998 deal.

And unionists in Northern Ireland agree.

The Northern Ireland Protocol avoids the need for customs or regulatory checks at a land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

It established a trade border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain instead, much to the angst of unionists who fear the union has been compromised.

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They have boycotted power-sharing at Stormont for the best part of a year.

That is not going to change until EU and UK negotiators stop simply citing the Good Friday Agreement and tap into the spirit of it.

In 1998, they had the courage to throw out the rule book and recognise that the greater good does not require there to be a winner and a loser.

The rule book said those convicted of murder must serve life.

Dozens were released from prison early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

The rule book said the Republic must retain its constitutional claim to Northern Ireland.

It dropped that claim and accepted the principle of consent.

Negotiations between the EU and the UK seem interminable because they are largely technical, the rule book providing a basis for them.

That might produce a result but it is unlikely to be one that brings the Democratic Unionists back into the power-sharing government at Stormont.

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If the two sides genuinely want to find a solution that protects the Good Friday Agreement and restores power-sharing, they need to throw out the rule book.

Tony Blair, co-signatory of the agreement, has repeatedly said that a solution will not be “a matter of technical work but political will and leadership”.

If ever Northern Ireland needed political will and leadership, it needs it now in the throes of healthcare and cost of living crises with no devolved government.

It needs the EU, UK, US and all political sides at Stormont to build on the Good Friday Agreement instead of hiding behind it.

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