Following comments by the DUP leader this morning on Good Morning Ulster TUV spokeswoman Lorna Smyth said:
“Where do you find ‘Green and Red lanes’? At a border, of course. So of themselves they confirm and solidify the Irish Sea border, as the U.K. needlessly takes on the role of policing the EU’s single market as Brussels’ surrogate, but with the additional infringement of EU staff operating on U.K. territory.
“Even the EU treaties are premised on the fact that it is for the EU’s frontier states to protect the EU’s single market. But, here it is being suggested that a non-EU member performs that role in its territory!
“But, more than that in order to operate, this system requires ‘green lane’ goods to be accompanied by multiple and costly declarations, with spot checks, meaning there is anything but the ‘equal footing’ trade guaranteed by Art 6 of the Acts of Union. Moving goods from GB to NI would still be inhibited – even customs declarations may be required!
“The Government’s rush to legislate for border control posts is a warning to to any unionist, or party, thinking these talks are moving in the right direction. So far, it’s the partitioning of the U.K., not the recovery of EU sovereignty over NI that is taking centre stage.
“But the Protocol is about more than the movement of goods. A key part of its sovereignty grab lies in the imposition of EU law on NI. Again, there has not been a cheep about reversal of this intolerable imposition.
“I say to Sir Jeffrey, unionism can afford no further missteps. Just as it was wrong to think customs checks are of no constitutional significance, so accepting the principle of a border in the Irish Sea will inevitably lead to furthering weakening of our position in the U.K..”