The Telegraph, January 22, Sammy Wilson MP and David Jones MP
The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement makes clear that cross-community consent should be the foundation for all political arrangements in Northern Ireland. But all consensus has been shattered by the implementation of the Protocol, which is divisive constitutionally, damaging economically and undemocratic. Not a single unionist elected representative in Northern Ireland supports these arrangements and that is a view widely shared in the Tory party. The Protocol was foisted on Northern Ireland without consent – a fact recently acknowledged by the Irish Taoiseach.
It is a matter of regret that successive UK governments did not heed the warnings that pursuing such a deal with the EU would threaten the economic and constitutional integrity of the UK and lead to political instability in Northern Ireland. The Protocol was deemed necessary to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. However, it is having a deeply adverse impact on the internal UK market and is consequently damaging the integrity of the UK.
The economic, social and constitutional damage that is being done to the UK as a whole, and to Northern Ireland in particular, cannot be allowed to continue. The Protocol cannot be tinkered with; it has to be removed and replaced by other arrangements that respect the UK’s integrity and protect the EU single market. The DUP is clear that there will be no basis for restoring an Executive or Assembly until the debris of the Protocol is removed once and for all. Recent court judgments have proven that the next round of devolved ministers would be under a duty to implement the legal requirements of the Protocol to the letter, baking in the damage that has already been done.
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