Ulster Unionist Peer Lord Empey has accused the DUP of being asleep at the wheel in failing to realise the full implications of the Backstop in December 2017, and as a result they are now preparing to accept a type of Brexit that is a world away from that which was promised in the Referendum Campaign of 2016.  

Lord Empey said:

“During the EU Referendum campaign the DUP and others told us that they would ensure that we would leave the EU, remove the writ of the European Court of Justice, be free from the regulatory powers of Brussels and be able to make Trade deals with other countries to boost our economy.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking to leave the EU - it’s a legitimate policy to follow - but the gap between what people were promised and what will be delivered has widened considerably, to put it mildly.

“The Backstop, which was first floated in December 2017 drives a coach and horses through the Belfast Agreement and could trap the UK in a permanent customs union with the EU. It creates a border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. We would have to treat goods from England as if they came from a third country! How far away from the unity of the United Kingdom can we get?

“The best leavers can hope for now is the Prime Minister’s deal with some time limiting to the Backstop, assuming it can be made legally binding. How our negotiators ever agreed to it in the first place is a mystery, but we are where we are. The comments from Gregory Campbell on Wednesday about what the DUP would now accept on Brexit, confirms my view that the DUP are slithering towards a fudge on the legal text to get themselves off the hook upon which they have impaled themselves and the whole of Northern Ireland.  

“But the PM's Withdrawal Agreement means that we will be taking regulations from Brussels during a transition period which could last for years without any representation in Brussels to put our point of view forward. We will continue to have to live with the judgements of the European Court of Justice and be unable to implement tariff free independent trade deals with countries outside the EU.

“The remaining EU 27 will individually have a veto over a future trade deal between the UK and the EU. The French will haggle about fishing, the Spanish over Gibraltar and dear knows what Dublin will be demanding!

“Furthermore, in the forthcoming European Parliamentary elections, parties in the Republic will be fielding candidates, some of whom will be designated by Dublin to 'represent' Northern Ireland interests in the European Parliament after we have left the EU.

“If all this wasn't bad enough, the way in which Brexit has been handled - especially by the DUP - has radicalised Irish nationalism, and with help from Peter Robinson, driven the idea of a border poll up near the top of the political agenda.

“Meanwhile, our businesses and farmers are all facing an uncertain few months, are unable to invest and are being forced to spend money on contingency plans that may never be required.

“The Ulster Unionist Party fully respects the result of the Referendum, but we also believe that Northern Ireland, of all places in the UK, needs a deal to be done with the EU.

“While I can imagine the DUP hoping that they can somehow manage to wash their hands of any fudge that may be forced upon Parliament in a few weeks, they cannot avoid responsibility for failing to prevent the Backstop during the last year when they could have done so. They didn't realise its significance. Arlene Foster claimed at the time:

‘Northern Ireland will not be separated constitutionally, politically, economically or regulatory from the rest of the United Kingdom and the joint UK-EU report at the conclusion of phase one makes clear that in all circumstances the United Kingdom will continue to ensure the same unfettered access for Northern Ireland’s businesses to the whole of the UK internal market.'

“Claims that Northern Ireland would not be separated on regulatory matters from rest of the UK have proved to be bogus and under the backstop proposals we will indeed be separated from the rest of the UK.

“Even after the EU published its interpretation of the Backstop in March 2018, still the DUP did nothing. They were asleep at the wheel and no amount of spin and backtracking now can change that.”