Statement by TUV party treasurer Councillor Timothy Gaston:
“One would not expect a House of Lords committee dominated by remainers to produce anything which reinforced the Unionist position on the Protocol. Nevertheless, that is exactly what the report published today on the Windsor Framework does.
“The spin from the Prime Minister and Secretary of State has been totally exposed by a report which highlights:
• That “in important respects, and in particular for the non- retail sector, the Windsor Framework will be more burdensome than the Protocol as it has operated to date with various grace periods and derogations” (Paragraph 39);
• “concerns that the ability of retailers based in Great Britain to use the green lane to supply the Northern Ireland market could place Northern Ireland businesses, which still need to comply with EU rules for goods, at a competitive disadvantage in their own market”( Paragraph 70);
• The fact that the Retail Movement Scheme “will be limited in scope to relevant goods moving to Northern Ireland through the green lane”(Paragraph 86);
• Concerns that the arrangements relating to medicines poses “a risk both to animal and human health, and to agri-food supply chains” (Paragraph 127);
• A lack of clarity as to the process by which the Government would decide whether the tests had been met for use of the so-called “Stormont break” (Paragraph 246) and importantly
• That there has been “no substantive change to the Court of Justice of the European Union’s role as the final arbiter of EU law falling within the scope of the Windsor Framework”(Paragraph 277).
“In short, it has been confirmed that Windsor is indeed the whitewash TUV always said it was and no Unionist could look upon this as anything approaching a sustainable basis to return to Stormont.”