Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“Corbyn’s somersault to support staying in a Customs Union with the EU is a betrayal of the millions of Labour voters who voted for Brexit. He is in the business of thwarting Brexit and keeping us tied to an oppressive EU unable to make a single trade deal with the growth parts of the world.
“To use a Belfast Agreement argument is dishonest. The Belfast Agreement barely mentions the EU and certainly is not EU-dependant for its existence or structures. It is part of the con of Remoaners to suggest otherwise.
“The threat of a NI/ROI border comes not from the UK but from the ideologues of the EU who make their common external tariffs a binding part of the Europhile ‘religion’. Hence, the obligation in the LIsbon Treaty on a frontier EU member state to maintain such tariff borders. Thus, it is the Republic, not Northern Ireland, which will have to provide frontier checks.
“Trying to keep Northern Ireland in a Customs Union with the EU is wholly incompatible with our status within the UK – the customs union and single market that really matter to us. When on Wednesday the legal text of last December’s questionable phase one deal is published we will see how far the integrity of the United Kingdom is being threatened by those who refuse to accept the democratic decision that the UK – all of it – is leaving the EU.”