The Telegraph, March 4th, Sammy Wilson MP
As he marched into the House of Commons to a clamour of cheers from his backbenchers and subdued silence from the Opposition, it was clear that the Prime Minister was going to have an easy sell for the Protocol deal he had struck with the EU. When it came to commenting on the deal, members from across the House stood to praise it and pledge their support, even though they hadn’t received a copy let alone had time to read it.
One even congratulated the PM on a “spectacular negotiating success”, commenting that the “Stormont brake on EU law is a brilliant piece of negotiating insight and imagination”, and then without the slightest embarrassment asked the PM to explain “how exactly it would work”.
There is no doubt that, in some areas, progress has been made. The outcome has demonstrated that our principled position in opposing the Protocol in Parliament and in the Northern Ireland Assembly has been vindicated. When many others said there would be no changes to the Protocol, our determination proved otherwise.
However, against the background of shallow, superficial, skin-deep scrutiny is the fear that the impact of a wrong deal will do short-term damage to Northern Ireland’s economy and result in the long-term dismantling of the UK.
Click here to read the piece in full.