Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“Confirmation that today’s North South Trade and Business Development meeting will go ahead due to Diane Dodds’s decision to attend has to be put in the context of Sinn Fein’s warning on Monday. After Republicans warned that “political progress and stability” relied on all the institutions of the Belfast Agreement operating today the DUP have buckled.
“Why is a Unionist facilitating a meeting to discuss trade and business development on a North/South level when our East-West links in those areas have been trashed by the Protocol?
“Sinn Fein should not be dictating policy for the lead Unionist party but sadly that appears to be the case at present.”