Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“Taking Doug Beattie’s interview in today’s Irish News at face value, it is hard to escape the conclusion that he doesn’t get, or worse still, accepts the constitutional change already wrought by the Union-dismantling Protocol.
“If, as appears, he is accepting a ‘regulatory border’ in the Irish Sea (something he previously criticised the DUP for in respect of October 2019) and concluding that only its operation and the Protocol’s ‘democratic deficit’ needs addressed, then, the essence of the Protocol is being conceded – namely, that Northern Ireland should be in a foreign single market for goods and under a foreign customs code ruled by foreign laws!
“As for the notion that the trashing of our East/West links are resolved by more North/Southery – I find that mind boggling! Input via a North/South body into the laws Brussels makes that govern us, and/or implementation of such, is not liberation from foreign dictatorship but facilitation of such.”