Politicians demand action not words from UK government as leaders due to meet with Taoiseach

In an interview with the News Letter on Saturday, Mr Baker spoke of the need to "cease to tie Northern Ireland to EU law.”

He said that the unionist grievance is the “constitutional question” and that respecting the Belfast Agreement, in his view, meant ending the “supremacy of European law” in NOrthern Ireland.

He said that by apologsing to Ireland over Brexit he was trying to “change the negotiating dynamic”.

Mr Baker said: “Ireland have got to be amongst our very best friends, we’re not going to achieve that by anything other than patching up the relationship.”

TUV leader Jim Allister said: “Minister Baker’s apology to the Republic was, at best, naive. It was, of course, the people of Northern Ireland he ought to have apologised to for the government leaving us as an EU colony subject to foreign laws and jurisdiction, with the resulting barriers to the flow of goods from GB. Sadly, he even voted for that.

“Now it is time for him and the government to redeem themselves by restoring full UK sovereignty over NI. That means returning to the foundation of the economic union that is supposed to be the United Kingdom, namely, Article 6 of the Acts of Union which guarantees all parts shall be on ‘the same footing’ in respect of trade and movement of goods – the very thing the protocol deliberately destroys.

“Thus, for Mr Baker and his colleagues, the task is not speaking the right words, but doing the right thing - reclaiming the EU’s ill-gotten sovereignty over Northern Ireland. Nothing less will do.”

Ulster Unionist peer Lord Empey does not believe the government has any intention of scrapping the protocol.

He made the comments based on former protocol minister James Cleverly’s admission that the government are not seeking fundamentally change the geometry of the protocol together with Minister Baker’s “extraordinary” apology to Ireland.

“Once again, unionists are being misled,” he said.

Meanwhile the protocol will be keenly discussed when Northern Ireland political leaders meets Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin in Belfast today.

Ahead of his meeting with the Taoiseach DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: “We must lay solid foundations if we are to move forward. We need to clear away the debris of the protocol years. We need to restore cross-community consensus.

"No unionist MLAs support the protocol. Therefore, it must be replaced by arrangements that unionists can support. This is essential if the political institutions are to function and succeed.

“Brussels must loosen the guide ropes for their negotiating team so a proper renegotiation can take place. The persistent refusal to change their negotiating mandate has been an impediment over the last two years to securing an outcome that unionists can support.”

He continued: “The protocol continues to bedevil us, with businesses and consumers reporting further problems each week. A 25% tariff on steel, driving up transport costs by almost 30% and uncertainty over medicine and veterinary supplies.

"The checks, however, on the Irish Sea border are but a symptom of the problem. They are the product of Northern Ireland being subject to a different set of laws imposed upon us by a foreign entity without any say or vote by any locally elected representative.

“In the future, as Great Britain moves in a different direction on aid or taxation, Northern Ireland will face further new barriers because we are tied to a different set of laws.

“If we can secure a better way forward, then there is a great prize of stable devolved government but without decisive action in Dublin and Brussels then the Protocol will continue to erode the foundations of Stormont.

"Devolution requires the support of unionists as well as nationalists if it is to function and succeed.”

The Irish government said the Taoiseach will hold separate meetings with the leaders of the SF, DUP, Alliance, SDLP and UUP.

He will also meet with participants in programmes working with schools as catalysts for peace and reconciliation.