Ulster Unionist Leader, Steve Aiken OBE MLA, said:

“If Ursula von der Leyen wants a truly fair deal, then it means the EU should put the Belfast Agreement in its entirety at the centre of intensified negotiations rather than a skewed interpretation of it.

“One year ago, on 2 October 2019, Boris Johnson published his document entitled ‘Explanatory Note – UK Government proposals to amend the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.’ It was endorsed by Arlene Foster at the time as a ‘serious and sensible way forward’, abandoning previous pledges that the DUP would reject any regulatory divergence between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Rather than being a sensible way forward, it was the worst strategic decision ever made and a catastrophic error from the Johnson Government which opened the floodgates to the mess in which we find ourselves today, putting Northern Ireland half in and half out of the EU.

“If there are any lessons to be drawn from these decisions it is that unionists across the United Kingdom must stop, listen and think before making any final decisions on where we go next. Too many avoidable mistakes have already been made.

“Nationalism has been swept up into a frenzy which has now seen them switch from Boris bashing to Brit bashing, with imaginary versions of the Belfast Agreement being touted to defend positions which sit at odds with the Agreement itself.

“The situation has been made worse by interventions from Irish American politicians,  the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, and his colleagues in Dublin who cheer on continued EU intransigence in negotiations. The United Kingdom Government has made serious errors, but the EU is as equally culpable as Northern Ireland is kicked from pillar to post. They forget that unionists who voted remain in the Brexit referendum will never sign up to their plans to punish the UK by attempting to annex Northern Ireland into the orbit of the EU and the influence of the Dublin Government.

“And some day very soon the nationalist parties in Northern Ireland will have to waken up to the fact that their unquestioning endorsement of the Northern Ireland Protocol could inevitably lead to rising prices in our shops, barriers to trade with our biggest market and our businesses hamstrung by rules thrust on them by committee. It`s not just Unionists who this will affect; it`s every man, woman and child in Northern Ireland. I would ask Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance to cut out the Brit bashing and work with all parties to use their influence with both the EU and UK negotiators to encourage them to use their best endeavours to reach a fair deal where the people of Northern Ireland and the Belfast Agreement are respected. Otherwise we will pay a very high price in years to come.”