DUBLIN, Sept 8, (AP): British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with his Irish counterpart, Saturday in what was billed as an attempt to reset relations between the two countries after years of tensions following the UK's departure from the European Union. Starmer's visit to meet Irish premier Simon Harris is the first by a British leader to Ireland in five years.

It is a further sign that the two wish to deepen relations on economic and security matters. Harris was the first international leader Starmer hosted following his Labour Party's landslide election victory on July 4. "Today is really significant because we have made clear our ambition to reset the relationship and today we take that forward," Starmer said after the afternoon meeting with Harris at Farmleigh House in Dublin, the Irish Government’s formal reception house for state visits.

"We are clear that by March we want to have a summit to show the yield from this and then annual summits after that.” Relations between the two countries have been strained ever since the UK voted in June 2016 to leave the European Union, especially in light of how it affected the political structures of Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. When the UK left the bloc, the British government and the EU agreed to keep the Irish border free of customs posts and other checks because an open border is a key pillar of the peace process that ended 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland.

Later, Starmer's Conservative predecessor Rishi Sunak renegotiated the initial agreement, and that has won the support of both sides of the Northern Irish political divide. Starmer said now was a chance to further solidify the relations, both with Ireland as well as the EU. He has said that the UK will not seek to rejoin the EU under his leadership, nor the bloc's frictionless single market and customs union. However, he has made it clear that he wants to renegotiate elements of the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU in order to bolster growth.