Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“Today the government appointed Equality Commission has publicly contradicted the spin of the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister that the Rwanda Bill will apply on the same basis in Northern Ireland as in GB.
“As many of us pointed out our subjection through Art 2 of the Protocol to EU law and standards means asylum seekers can avail in NI of protections not applicable in GB. This means the Rwanda Bill will be stymied in NI and an effective people border added in the Irish Sea.
“Once more the government and those who claimed to have restored our place in the UK have been caught out.
“The assertion of the Commission that NI must, because of the Protocol, ‘keep pace’ with EU rights is a vivid illustration of how NI increasingly is being moved out of the UK orbit and into that of the EU.
“This is yet another thing with the Donaldson Deal did not address. Instead it leaves us colonial subjects of the EU.”