Ulster Unionist Leader, Robin Swann MLA, has described the latest proposals to break the Brexit deadlock as preposterous, but inevitable given the DUP`s huge strategic error in accepting a border in the Irish Sea.
Robin Swann MLA said:
“The latest stunt to break the Brexit deadlock is a complete non-runner. Not only would Northern Ireland operate in a completely different sphere from the rest of the United Kingdom, but it would reinforce deadlock and division in Northern Ireland. This preposterous proposition would guarantee that nothing would change and 2025 would be the target date for a pseudo border poll. Over twenty years on from the Belfast Agreement, those who talk about it most, seem to have forgotten what is actually written in it.
“The principle of consent is one of the cornerstones of the Agreement and the proposal from the EU on top of the Foster/Johnson plan would remove it piece by piece and eventually it will fall.
“Regrettably the latest proposal was inevitable and entirely predictable given that the DUP and Johnson Government foolishly capitulated on a border in the Irish Sea. The EU have seized on this huge strategic error and are now seeking to exploit it because they see that the DUP have already done a monumental U-turn on one of their ‘blood-red lines’. So they assume if they have done it once, they will do it again. All these last gasp proposals will only feed into the already toxic atmosphere. It`s time to go back to the basics of the Belfast Agreement.”