The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice Spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, has warned that the failure of the UK Government and the EU to address unionist concerns about the NI Protocol risks permanent and irreversible damage to the Belfast Agreement.

Doug Beattie said:

“Nobody should be surprised about Brandon Lewis` comments backing the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Secretary of State is a Conservative and a minister in Boris Johnson`s Government which promised that they would deliver Brexit for the whole of the United Kingdom, but instead put a border in the Irish Sea. Despite the Protocol damaging Northern Ireland on a daily basis, the Secretary of State and the Conservative Government are incapable of admitting they shafted Northern Ireland.

“It`s time that the Boris Johnson Government, the EU and the Irish Government all started acknowledging some facts when they talk about Northern Ireland and recognising that the Protocol has to go. They have badly damaged the finely balanced equilibrium of the Belfast Agreement, yet they arrogantly and stubbornly claim that the Protocol ‘protects the peace process.’ We saw that yesterday when the German Europe Minister Michael Roth claimed ‘full implementation of the Protocol is the only way to achieve our main objectives, preserving the peace process in Ireland as well as protecting the integrity of our internal market.’

“Maybe the EU can explain how guide dogs entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain or potted plants and seeds coming from Great Britain in any way damage the integrity of the single market? And just how fragile can this single market be?

“If they were genuine about the peace process and protecting the Belfast Agreement, they would have realised the importance of the Three Stranded approach and would have placed equal importance on relationships between GB and Northern Ireland rather than dismissing the genuine and legitimate concerns of unionists and prioritising north-south arrangements. It`s time that they ended the spin, distortion and propaganda which is undermining decades of work and risks permanent and irreversible damage to the Belfast Agreement.”