Editorial: Irish Sea border concerns over the government’s plans to deport foreign criminals, highlight once again how it's important that parliamentary sovereignty is restored

Concerns that public safety may be compromised by the Windsor Framework’s impact on the government’s plans to deport foreign criminals highlight the scale of the problems posed by Irish Sea border.

The government insists that it can – and will – legislate for the the whole of the United Kingdom to allow the deportation of foreign nationals who have been convicted of crimes in this country.

However, Jim Allister MP has repeatedly raised concerns that the law would be struck out by the courts in Northern Ireland. He has cited previous examples where judges have ruled that provisions in the Protocol override domestic legislation from Westminster.

He has also raised the spectre of the province becoming a “magnet” for foreign criminals.

The Supreme Court is set to rule soon on whether EU law does trump British law. It all flows from a commitment in the Windsor Framework to ensure no “diminution of rights” under the Belfast Agreement as a result of Brexit.

The government has rightly brought an appeal over the constitutional implications of some previous rulings by lower courts, and the implications will be far reaching, whatever the verdict.

Should EU law be ruled to take precedence over domestic law, the government must take action. It cannot be the case that government legislation is continually hampered by never-ending court cases brought by a publicly-funded rights sector.

We currently have the ridiculous situation where the Equality Commission is arguing that the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ might have a different meaning in Belfast than in Birmingham, because of the Windsor Framework.

This situation must be remedied, and parliamentary sovereignty restored.