Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“It is trite for Michael Martin to say he ‘recognises’ unionist concerns over the Protocol while all the time insisting, as the EU does, that its essential architecture must stay.
“This is the very Union-dismantling architecture, which Dublin insisted upon, which delivers us into a foreign single market for goods, under a foreign customs code, foreign laws and a foreign court. In consequence GB is rendered a ‘third country’, precisely in line with his Republican narrative.
“So his vacuous words – words that anticipate mere tinkering – mean nothing. If the Dublin PM wants a settlement then he must encourage the EU to give up its ill gotten sovereignty over Northern Ireland.
“He would not accept foreign rule, without consent, in any part of his territory, but expects Northern Ireland to live in vassalage to the EU.
“What he said today does not convey any desire on his part for a lasting solution, built on the essential of respecting British sovereignty.”