Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“With Sinn Fein now calling for no border down the Irish Sea is the penny beginning to drop that the EU’s ‘backstop’ position would destroy not just the economy of Northern Ireland but also that of the UK-dependent Republic of Ireland? It is time Varadkar and Coveney realised the same.
“What they have steered the EU to demanding would erect a border not just between Northern Ireland and GB, but equally between ROI and GB. With GB being the host of most of ROI’s exports and Dublin also being heavily dependent on imports from GB, the impact for the Republic would be catastrophic.
“As I have said from the outset the resolution is more likely to lie not in ‘special status’ for NI, but in ‘special status’ for the Republic within the EU, whereby it could have necessary trading arrangements with its biggest market, the UK.
“As for Sinn Fein, true to form, they want to have their cake and eat it: they demand the ‘backstop’ to annex NI into the Republic, but then cry foul when the same ‘backstop’ would erect a border for the Republic with GB. They never were the brightest!”