Boris Johnson dismisses DUP’s concern over NI Protocol - ‘Goods are flowing effectively’ says PM

Mr. Donaldson, who is leader of the DUP in Westminster, asked Prime Minister Johnson if he would consider invoking Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol.

Article 16 concerns safeguards and provides a framework in which they can be deployed.

If invoked, Article 16 would permit the UK government to unilaterally mitigate for unforeseen negative impacts stemming from the Northern Ireland Protocol.

“The prime minister promised us that Northern Ireland would continue to have unfettered access to the UK internal market yet in my constituency, consumers are facing empty supermarket shelves, they can’t get parcels delivered from Great Britain, small businesses can’t bring in spare parts and raw materials into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, steel importers are facing tariffs and we have many other problems all caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol,” said Mr. Donaldson during Prime Minister’s Questions.

““What I and the people of Northern Ireland need to know from the prime minister, as leader of the United Kingdom, is what his government will do to address this, if he will consider invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to resolve these issues because the trader support system is welcome but it isn’t the solution alone, we need direct government intervention to deal with this now,” he added.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson replied saying that goods were “flowing effectively” from Great Britain to Northern Ireland but did concede he “would not hesitate” to invoke Article 16 if the government deemed it necessary.

“I can tell him at the moment goods are flowing effectively and normal volumes between Great Britain and Northern Ireland - and so far no lorries have been sent back. Yes of course there are teething problems and I can confirm that if there problems we deem disproportionate we will have no hesitation in invoking Article 16.”