UK says it will take all necessary steps to protect Northern Ireland peace

Containers are stacked at the Port of Felixstowe, Britain, January 28, 2021. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain said on Tuesday it would take all necessary steps to protect peace in Northern Ireland as it urged the European Union to show new imagination in talks to resolve problems with post-Brexit trading rules.

London and Brussels have been trying for months to break the deadlock over the deal, which in effect created a customs border in the sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom to preserve the province's open land border with EU member state Ireland.