Dodds: Post-Brexit customs or passport control at Irish Sea out

When asked about the issue yesterday, deputy leader Nigel Dodds pointed to what the prime minister had told him in the Commons last November.

At that point he had asked Theresa may to reassure him that Brexit “will not result in any change, alteration or impeding of the way regions, countries and people within the UK connect with one another”. Mrs May responded: “I’m very happy to give the Right Honourable Gentleman that assurance in relation to movement around the United Kingdom. There is no change that is going to take place.”

Yesterday Mr Dodds said that that answer by the prime minister had been “unequivocal” that there would be no restrictions on the free movement of goods and people between parts of the UK.

He added: “We’re not leaving the European Union to get rid of some of its shackles to impose more restrictions between the constituent parts of the United Kingdom – we’re certainly not doing that.”

The 23-page DUP manifesto proposes that Northern Ireland should have a public holiday to celebrate its centenary in 2021, as well as major sporting events, public art and a centenary wood to mark the occasion.

It also argues for rises in the national living wage and personal tax allowances, as well as protection of pensions.

A cut or abolition of the TV licence fee, as well as reform of the BBC, is also mentioned in the manifesto, although the DUP said that was not due to investigative BBC programmes such as the one which examined the RHI scandal in December.