Doug Beattie: The fact is, the new Irish Sea border has caused problems for our military

This has led them to first deny, then try to undermine, my concerns in regard to the military movement of equipment from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

But the fact remains that military equipment being moved within the boundaries of the United Kingdom must go through customs controls.

This is not hype or exaggeration as stated by some political leaders seemingly trying to belittle anyone with a concern.

It is simply not acceptable that any time unionists raise concerns about the sea border they are summarily dismissed, often by the very same people and parties who were so exercised about their own concerns at what might result if any physical infrastructure was proposed on the land border.

The Ministry of Defence statement that it will not affect their operations does detract from my concerns either, because the reality is that the military will always do workarounds, as they are a can do organisation and that is their stock in trade. But the key point remains, why should they have to in this case?

The fact is that I know the processes for the movement of military equipment from GB to NI post January 1 2021. And the fact that this concerns me as a unionist politician should not be belittled or undermined just to cover up the glaring failure of the protocol and those who champion it or who feel obliged to defend it.

Whether you are pro Brexit or not, it is abundantly clear that the military are classed as any other business when moving their equipment around the UK. They must fill out a Nato form, complete an inventory and submit it to a Customs Compliance Team.

Only then will they receive a movement reference number to allow them to move from GB to NI, and on arrival at NI they will be subject to customs checks and EU monitoring.

This is the reality now but it can be fixed and I am in no doubt it will be. Even now I expect the NIO and MOD will be changing their internal processes.

However, even if and when it is resolved, the point remains and it is still completely valid — the Irish Sea border has caused difficulties for our military and the Ulster Unionist Party was right to speak up and draw attention to it.

In desperation the Conservative Party are in damage limitation mode because if this picked up momentum, they would fear attacks from their political rivals. Northern Ireland matters little to them, but would start to matter if the Labour Party highlighted their failing on a national stage.

Unless the UK government sees sense, the NI Protocol may well be here until the assembly can vote if down in 2024. That will not stop the UUP highlighting its insidious effects on the UK.

It needs to be replaced with a better and workable option, but in the meantime the list of derogations needs to grow from pet travel to medicine control, to movement of foodstuffs to military equipment.

• Doug Beattie MC MLA is Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson

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