Ulster Unionist Party Leader Steve Aiken OBE MLA, has called on the Government to take steps immediately to address the ludicrous situation whereby the NI Protocol is restricting the ability of troops and equipment to move freely from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.   

 Steve Aiken said:

“It was bad enough that the NI Protocol was having such an impact on the movement of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, but for it to stop the free movement of UK Armed Forces and their equipment within the United Kingdom is simply unbelievable and demands immediate action by the UK Government in the shape of derogations.

“This is our own Armed forces, having effectively to subject themselves to inspection by officials of a foreign power (the EU) before they can come into part of sovereign UK territory. There are clearly huge implications for the future with this. This is surely about as far away from ‘taking control of our own money, our laws and our borders’ as it is possible to get.

“It must not be forgotten that this whole fiasco has been facilitated by the DUP and their total failure to realise the significance of the regulatory border in the Irish Sea which they agreed to on the 2nd October 2019 as part of Boris Johnson’s proposals.  The reality is that in spite of their bluster and attempts to throw sand in the air, the DUP have failed in their principal duty to protect the Union. They could have prevented this in 2019, but instead they said an Irish Sea border was a ‘serious and sensible way forward.’ No matter how hard they now try, they cannot now absolve themselves of responsibility for their role in this.

“The response from the Ministry of Defence is extremely unconvincing and has done nothing to allay the very real fears that exist. The Defence Minister has to realise the seriousness of a situation whereby movements from Great Britain to Northern Ireland require the completion of a NATO form that is designed for movement of NATO forces around the globe.  Questions must also be asked as to why this issue was not picked up at Westminster by MPs on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee or the Defence Select Committee. What on earth were the DUP MPs doing?

“We have somehow arrived at the point whereby our soldiers aren’t allowed to come into Northern Ireland with their equipment and our eels aren’t allowed to leave. Westminster needs to realise what is at stake here and produce solutions in the form of derogations as a matter of urgency.”