Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“The fundamental for me when it comes to whatever is proposed is does it still leave Northern Ireland alone as part of the UK in a foreign single market for goods? Does it leave us subject to a foreign customs code and a foreign VAT regime? Is all this still overseen by foreign laws and adjudicated upon by a foreign court? As long as any arrangement does any of those things then it is not a settlement. It is not acceptable. It involves a transfer in sovereignty and a change in constitutional status.
“There is a fundamental democratic deficit when laws which govern our economy are made not in London or Belfast but in Brussels. These are laws over which we have no input, no control and no ability to change.
“If the Government is coming to the belated realisation of what they have done they need to have the courage to repudiate the Protocol. Are they going to allow the EU to break up their own country or are they going to stand up for the UK? That’s what needs to be done. In the short term they should be unilaterally expending the grace periods and using Article 16.
“It is unsustainable that, with no consent from the people of Northern Ireland, we should be handed over to the EU. “