With just four weeks until the end of the transition period, UUP Leader Steve Aiken OBE MLA said:
“We are just one month away from the end of the transition period and Northern Ireland has disgracefully been left in the dark by both the EU and the UK Government.
“There has been no response from the EU to a request from the First and deputy First Minister to provide clarity on the security of food supply to Northern Ireland. The silence from the European Union on this is an absolute disgrace. Despite grand talk throughout this process of protecting Northern Ireland, we are just being used as leverage by them in these negotiations.
“Cross-border trade represents 1/10th of 1% of EU Trade Flows. For Northern Ireland to continue to be used as a bargaining chip is scandalous.
“We also urgently need to hear from the UK Government on what contingencies and mitigations they will be putting in place to protect Northern Ireland come the 1st January. We are just four weeks away from the end of the transition period and still none the wiser to what the full implications will be – where are the answers?
“If all parties here are serious about protecting Northern Ireland and the Belfast Agreement then they should join us in calling for the EU and UK to grant us derogations and allow time for the NI economy to adapt and also recover from COVID19.”