Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“The EU says it can’t discuss trade till their backstop is agreed. But, the backstop is itself all about trade. It’s imperative is Northern Ireland staying in perpetuity in the EU single market and customs union. Such sets the parameters of our future trading processes and patterns and, of course, would exclude us from any UK trade deals.
“So, in demanding the backstop Brussels is not only predetermining for us the core of the trade issue but determining we could only ever trade on their terms. How any UK Prime Minister could have agreed to such sequencing is beyond me. That was her fatal mistake – if mistake it was for a Remainer – because it bound her into accepting the breakup of the UK or meekly agreeing the EU’s terms of thwarting Brexit.
“Committing to a trade related backstop before trade talks could start was the most blundering case of ‘cart before the horse’. It is only when you know what the trade arrangements look like that you can sensibly address what, if anything, you need on the Irish border. Yet, Mrs May turned round and held out her hands to be tied behind her back.
“Now, she wants to keep us shackled to Brussels for yet another year. It’s time her party showed her the door.”