Statement by TUV a leader Jim Allister:-
“Rereading the small print of the Protocol has confirmed me in the view that the North-South institutions must be a key target in effective political protest against the Protocol.
“Art 1 of the Protocol sets out its objectives. These include ‘to maintain the necessary conditions for continued North-South cooperation’.
“Article 11 says the Protocol shall be implemented and applied so as to maintain the necessary conditions for continued North-South cooperation .
“So, to disrupt the North-South bodies is to derail this key objective and bring home the unworkability and self-defeating nature of the Protocol.
“It is only if and when the Protocol is rendered unworkable – and here continued refusal to man the border posts is vital – will it be reviewed.
“To those who claim it can never be overcome, I point to Art 13 paragraph 8 which expresses provides that a subsequent agreement between the EU and U.K. can supersede the Protocol.
“So, it is not irreplaceable, but only political action which renders it unworkable will get us to that point. Thus there must be no weakening in resolve or straying into the bypath meadow of easements and extended grace periods. TUV has no interest in salvaging or patching up a Protocol which is so fundamentally incompatible with British sovereignty and our constitutional position.
“Of course, there are huge adverse economic consequences with the Protocol but for me the overriding issue is constitutional. Thus grace periods to help bed it in is nothing more than palliative care for the demise of the Union.”