The prime minister is expected in Northern Ireland on Monday as efforts to break the political deadlock at Stormont intensify.
Boris Johnson will hold talks with party leaders and attempt to persuade the Democratic Unionists to enter the power sharing government.
Sinn Fein is now the largest party but its vice president, Michelle O’Neill, cannot become first minister without a Unionist deputy first minister.
The DUP has blocked the formation of a new devolved administration over the Northern Ireland Protocol and resulting sea border.
Boris Johnson may be forced to choose between a government in Belfast or the treaty he agreed with the EU.
Writing in the Belfast Telegraph, the prime minister said: “Many things have changed since the protocol was agreed.
“We have been told by the EU that it is impossible to make the changes to the protocol text to actually solve these problems in negotiations – because there is no mandate to do so.”
Committing to “keep the door open…
