Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“The venomous response of Dublin, the EU and nationalism to the very suggestion that the U.K. Parliament might exercise sovereign power over Northern Ireland, demonstrates that they care nothing for the economic prosperity of our people and prefer subjugation to laws we don’t make and can’t change.
[The Withdrawal Agreement Act 2020 is clear: “nothing in this Act derogates from the sovereignty of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.” (Section 38)]
“HMG’s new Bill is most modest – indeed too modest – in terms of what needs to be done to preserve the integrity of the United Kingdom. Yet, the thought that the sovereign parliament might prevent the destructive lunacy of ‘exit declarations’ on goods from this part of the U.K. to GB has Dublin, the EU and their acolytes in a tail spin. Despicably, they want to impede the trade of the U.K. internal market even though it is the lifeblood of our economy.
“Whereas, the Bill provides a mechanism to assist in unfettered trade from N.I. to GB, it largely fails to complete the circle of ensuring unfettered trade from GB to N.I. In this it disappoints the rightful constitutional expectation of trade parity in every direction within the U.K. (Art 6 Act of Union).
“Parliament still needs to fully face up to the pernicious consequences of leaving Northern Ireland in the EU Single Market for goods and subject to the EU Custom Code and tariffs, including the impact of Art 10 of the Protocol impeding state aid. Unless and until this is done then the Protocol will continue to destroy the integrity of the U.K. and ensure the whole UK is not in control of its own laws and borders.”