Exclusive-UK to warn EU it may deviate from Brexit deal on N.Ireland -sources

A truck drives past a defaced 'Welcome to Northern Ireland' sign on the Ireland and Northern Ireland border reminding motorists that the speed limits will change from kilometres per hour to miles per hour on the border in Carrickcarnan, Ireland, March 6, 2021. Picture taken March 6, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) -Britain will threaten this week to deviate from the Brexit deal unless the European Union shows more flexibility over Northern Ireland, one UK and three EU sources told Reuters, a move that could thrust the five-year Brexit divorce into tumult.

Deviating from the deal's so-called Northern Ireland Protocol is a risky step: its aim was to prevent Brexit from disrupting the delicate peace brought to Northern Ireland by the U.S.-brokered 1998 agreement that ended three decades of sectarian conflict.