Jim Allister today led a TUV delegation including Timothy Gaston MLA and Dan Boucher to meet Lord Murphy who has been commissioned to produce a review of the Protocol.
Speaking after the meeting Jim Allister said:
“We made it clear to Lord Murphy that we had little confidence in his review as he is constrained by his terms of reference to only bring forward recommendations which command cross community support. This is in stark contrast to the vote on the Protocol at the end of last year which required a simple majority. We therefore have a position where Unionism was denied a veto on a decision which moved the border to the Irish Sea and aligned us in more than 300 areas of law with the Irish Republic – laws in which we have no say – while Nationalism has a veto on any changes. Unionism has been left in a situation where our constitutional position has been trashed as that key pillar of the Acts of Union, Article Six which garentees freedom of trade within the UK, is in suspension.
“We drove home the point that the answer to the Protocol is one which originated within the EU itself – mutual enforcement is the basis of trade between sovereign nations the world over and there is no reason why this wouldn’t work between Northern Ireland and our nearest neighbours. The resistance to this proposal was purely political because Dublin knows that it is a short step from economic unity to political unity.
“I fear that Lord Murphy may well see the solution as closer alinement between the whole to UK and the EU. TUV drove home the point that not only would this not address the root of the problem but would be undemocratic as the solution to disrespecting the result of the referendum in one part of the UK cannot be to disrespect it across the UK.”