Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-

“The deliberate design of the iniquitous Protocol was to prise Northern Ireland and Great Britain apart. That is its underlying political intent.

“Today’s figures from the Food & Drink Federation, confirming a substantial reduction in food sales from GB to NI, demonstrate the trade-inhibiting Protocol is working as Brussels and its pan-nationalist backers intended. The purpose is to reorientate our economy onto an all-Ireland basis in the belief that the politics will follow.

“TUV has identified this anti-British and anti-unionist agenda from the outset, even when some were asleep at the wheel. Hence, our continuing opposition to the facilitation of such through the folly of the Poots’ Posts.

“Every day the Protocol is allowed to bed in the more ensconced it becomes. Giving time for what are intended only as tinkering changes is to play the Protocol’s game.”