Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson has warned that any proposal to keep Northern Ireland in the EU Single Market and/or customs union with the rest of the UK outside would risk breaching the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Nicholson also underlined the importance of maintaining the UK single market and emphasised the importance of seamless trade between the whole of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Jim Nicholson MEP said:
“Keeping Northern Ireland in the EU single market and customs union with the rest of the UK outside would place an international border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. It would mean taking Northern Ireland out of the UK single market, risking a breach of the national sovereignty of the UK over Northern Ireland - with decisions taken on our economy in Brussels where we will have no MEPs to represent us.
“This to me risks breaching the Belfast Agreement, which re-affirmed the fact that Northern Ireland, in its entirety, is a full integral part of the United Kingdom for as long as its people wish to remain so.
“Both Michel Barnier and Guy Verhofstadt have talked at length about the importance of protecting the Belfast Agreement through the Brexit process, but as I have told them on countless occasions, they cannot simply cherry-pick the agreement to suit a Brussels agenda.
“The economic consequences of leaving the UK single market would hurt all communities in Northern Ireland. The UK market is our most important market for sales - with Great Britain accounting for some 60% of Northern Ireland’s external sales.
“None of us want a hard border with the Republic of Ireland and a return to disruption in the areas around the border, and we will continue to work with officials and representatives from the UK, Republic of Ireland and the European Union to find an acceptable solution. But the answer is not to create a new border within the United Kingdom.
“Finding a sustainable solution to the border will mean looking at east-west relationships as well as north-south, and we will only be able to make serious progress on that once we move to phase two of the negotiations and agree a deep and comprehensive trade deal, and a new customs arrangement between the United Kingdom and the European Union.”