UUP Leader Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“The Ulster Unionist Party is not interested in just complaining and pointing out the flaws of the Northern Ireland Protocol. We want to find common sense solutions that will prevent it having a negative effect on the people of Northern Ireland.
“We were not responsible for the Protocol, but we want to put forward proposals that can remove the Irish Sea Border. There should be no new borders east/west or north/south and we believe this can be achieved if the will is there.
“We have continued to develop our thinking on the NI Protocol since it emerged and some proposals we have put forward since 2019 have been adopted by the UK Government in their Command Paper. In our previous meeting with Maroš Šefčovič we raised the need to adopt a pragmatic, common sense approach to dealing with goods that would not leave the UK internal market and we will make this appeal again when he is in Northern Ireland on Thursday.
“Only by talking and trying to find solutions will we prevent the problems we currently face as a result of the NI Protocol. This refreshed paper is an attempt in good faith to offer a potential way forward.”