Brexit

Unionists have given a mixed reaction to news that Government has once again extended the date on which it will remove Brexit-related customs checks on parcels coming from GB. A sign a Larne Port highlights unionist concerns at cross community approval being suspended in the Belfast Agreement in order to allow Stormont to approve the NI Protocol.

End of Irish Sea Border parcel checks pushed out yet again by Government

The Northern Ireland Protocol could result in all US goods coming into Northern Ireland being subject to EU taxes - while GB would be totally exempt, due to Brexit. A sign a Larne Port highlights unionist concerns at cross community approval being suspended in the Belfast Agreement in order to allow Stormont to approve the NI Protocol.

Northern Ireland Protocol may impose EU taxes on US goods

Brexit fall-out risks cutting off 50% of veterinary medicines from NI which could impact on companian animals and commercial livestock. Pictured is a puppy from a litter of nine German shepherd guide dogs in Somerset last year.

Vets urge action to prevent 'devastating' medicine shortage

Secretary of State Hilary Benn has hailed the first anniversary of the deal which ended the unionist boycott of Stormont - The Safeguarding The Union agreement.

Benn hails Safeguarding deal anniversary, despite implementation doubts

DUP leader Gavin Robinson placed a great emphasis on improving the health service in 2025

DUP and UUP New Year Messages focus on health service

TUV leader Jim Allister and party MLA Timothy Gaston

TUV New Year message: DUP deal left Union weaker

Stormont Assembly members will vote later on whether to continue with Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements

Stormont MLAs to vote on extending Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading deal

Jamie Bryson arrives at the High Court on Monday for his legal challenge to stop a Stormont vote on the Windsor Framework. Pic: Jonathan Porter/PressEye

Legal bid to stop assembly vote on Windsor Framework dismissed

A sign a Larne Port highlights unionist concerns at cross community approval being suspended in the Belfast Agreement in order to allow Stormont to approve the NI Protocol. Picture: June 2022.

Full details of bill which would 'restore NI's place in the UK'

DUP MLA Peter Martin has blamed the sea border for a collapse in foreign firms interested in investing in Northern Ireland.

Sea border blamed as foreign firms looking to open in NI down 70%

DAERA Minister Andrew Muir is pictured with Baroness Hayman of Ullock, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

UFU fears of EU blocking 50% of vet medicine from NI

Jim Allister speaking recently at Stormont

TUV 'unjustly shunned by BBC and UTV in election debates'

Summer sunshine at Belfast City Hall: Northern Ireland’s private and public sectors have joined together to target investors in the Republic of Ireland with the offer of dual market access to both Great Britain and Europe.

Northern Irelan targets Republic investors with dual market access

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson (left) and TUV leader Jim Allister on the steps of Stormont. The pair will address a public meeting together next week about the DUP deal with government on the NI Protocol. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Allister and Bryson to address public meeting on DUP deal

A loyalist band and protestors make their way through Markethill during a protest event against the Irish Sea Customs Border, and 'two-tier policing' on 5 May 2021.Picture: Philip Magowan / PressEye

Court summonses for bandsmen in wake of anti-Protocol protests

From left: BVA President Malcolm Morley, BVA NI Branch Senior Vice President Esther Skelly-Smith, new BVA NI Branch President Sharon Verner and BVA NI Branch Junior Vice President Kirsten Dunbar

Vets’ leader to continue fight against pending EU medicine ban
The new President of the British Veterinary Association in Northern Ireland has vowed to keep up the fight against the pending EU blockage of 51% of veterinary medicines coming into Northern Ireland from GB.
Philip Bradfield

Lord Dodds making his address in the Lords late on Monday night

Nigel Dodds: Protocol could see NI drift apart from GB on immigration

Mark Tait, a leading figure in the haulage sector, does not believe the DUP-government deal on the NI Protocol will ease any of the red tape imposed on his industry.

Haulage chief's concerns despite DUP-UK government deal

DUP Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly strongly defended her party's decision to go back into government after it was criticised in an essay by senior party figures Lord Nigel Dodds, Lord Maurce Morrow and Sammy Wilson MP. Photo: BBC NI Sunday Politics.

DUP sidesteps criticism from party figures who say Sea Border remains

DUP MLA Edwin Poots said he would like to have cleaned the clock of TUV leader Jim Allister had he not been the new Speaker of the Assembly.

Edwin Poots would have ‘cleaned the clock’ of Jim Allister

Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) President David Brown has called for more clarity across a wide range of issues in the new DUP deal - but has welcomed the progress made by the party. Photo: MCAULEY_MULTIMEDIA

UFU seeks clarity across a wide range of issues in DUP deal

The wreckage of the bus

Former teenage soldier recalls the IRA bomb that destroyed the bus he was in

Irish premier Leo Varadkar said he has “some difficulties” with the new rules that will allow for smooth post-Brexit trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, but that they do not cross any red lines.

DUP deal does not cross red lines despite some difficulties – Varadkar

A delegation of TUV members is canvassing for ex-MEP Ben Habib as he fights to secure the Westminster seat in the Wellingborough by-election in Northamptonshire.

TUV joins Habib on Westminster by-election campaign trail

Jamie Bryson speaking during a public meeting at Moygashel Orange Hall on Thursday February 1, 2024. PA Photo.

Bryson tells public meeting that Irish Sea border remains after Stormont deal

The UK and EU flags

NI businessmen voice skepticism things will return to pre-Brexit days

The scene today, Thursday, 1 February, 2024, where Lord Dodds of Duncairn outlined how many unionists remain deeply worried about the operation of a border in the Irish Sea despite the government’s deal with the DUP over a return to Stormont. Pictured speaking is Northern Ireland Office minister Lord Caine, who said the government did not recognise there was 'anything like a trade border' in the Irish Sea

Lord Dodds says 'fundamentals' of Windsor Framework remain in place
Many Northern Ireland unionists remain deeply worried about the operation of a border in the Irish Sea despite the Government’s deal, a former deputy leader of the DUP has warned.
David Lynch and Nick Lester, PA

Moore Holmes addresses the crowd at an anti-Protocol rally

DUP leadership 'mounting a choreographed blitzkrieg back into Stormont'

NI Secretary says Northern Ireland is '100%' as British as London

A general image of a traveller beside a duty-free shop (KL International Airport in Sepang, photo credit should read JIMIN LAI/AFP via Getty Images)

DUP MP cites lack of access to duty-free at airports as he critiques deal

A Saoradh mural on Hugo Street, off the Falls Road

Dissident republican group Saoradh calls Stormont a 'quisling assembly'

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has hit out at unionist critics of his deal with the Government, accusing some of them of living in a “bygone era”. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Some critics of deal are living in a bygone era, says Donaldson

DUP support for a deal which will return devolved government to Northern Ireland is “absolutely decisive”, party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

DUP 'not split' and support for deal 'absolutely decisive' – Donaldson

Sammy Wilson in the Commons

Sammy Wilson calls Tories 'spineless Brexit-betrayers'

DUP MP Sammy Wilson called the UK Government ‘spineless’ and ‘Brexit-betraying’ as the deal was announced.

Wilson calls UK Government ‘spineless’ and ‘Brexit-betraying’ as deal announced

The cover of the government's command paper

Return of Stormont: Details of the DUP deal with the UK government published

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - DECEMBER 19: Democratic Unionist party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson answers questions alongside party colleagues Gavin Robinson and Emma Little-Pengelly at a press conference following discussions at Hillsborough Castle on December 19, 2023 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has been boycotting a power-sharing government at Stormont since 2022 in protest of post-Brexit trade rules, rejected any potential deal to restore devolution in Northern Ireland by Christmas. The British government had reportedly hoped an agreement on power-sharing could be reached before today's parliamentary recess. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

What has Sir Jeffrey Donaldson ACTUALLY said so far about the deal?

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JANUARY 30: Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson addresses the media following a meeting with 120 executive members of the DUP on a possible deal to restore the devolved government on January 30, 2024 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The province has been without a government for two years since the DUP triggered the collapse of the power-sharing executive in a protest against post-Brexit trade checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, known as the Windsor Framework. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Jamie Bryson lays down debating challenge to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson

Mel Lucas, from Traditional Unionist Voice, speaks to the media as he joins protesters outside Larchfield Estate where the DUP held a private party meeting. The protesters are calling for the DUP not to go back into Stormont until the Irish Sea Border is removed. Picture date: Monday January 29, 2024. Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Fifty protestors outside estate urged DUP not to 'sell out'

The Orange Order has reiterated its opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol and the Windsor Framework, while internal DUP talks about a deal with government on the issues continue. Pictured is Mervyn Gibson, Grand Secretary of the Orange Order.

Orange Order reiterates opposition to NI Protocol and Windsor Framework

NEWTOWNARDS, NORTHERN IRELAND - JUNE 18: Traditional Unionist Voice party leader Jim Allister attends an anti-Northern Ireland Protocol protest rally on June 18, 2021 in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Jim Allister encourages DUP members to consider rebelling and joining TUV

Ian Paisley says UK government policy looks set to be thwarted in NI due to the Protocol

'Cigarettes will not be phased out in NI because of EU'

Sammy Wilson and Robert Buckland

Sammy Wilson savages Robert Buckland over threat of Dublin role in NI's affairs

DUP MLA Gordon Lyons branded Sinn Fein's attempt to elect a speaker today as "a stunt".

SF attempt to restore assembly fails: DUP brands move 'a stunt'

A spokeswoman for UUP leader Doug Beattie, said that talks over the NI Protocol are over. Liam McBurney/PA Wire

UUP and Alliance say ‘negotiations are over’ as talks resume in Hillsborough

Sammy Wilson

Stormont revival talks: DUP MP says party will not be swayed by £3.3bn 'bribe'

December 18, 2023: Talks continue at Hillsborough Castle between local parties and the British Government to try and restore the Northern Ireland Assembly. The DUP’s Gordon Lyons and Emma Little Pengelly (Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye)

Stormont talks: DUP MLA says 'important we get the financial package right'

(Left to right) Deputy Leader of the DUP Gavin Robinson, Leader of the DUP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Gordon Lyons speak to media outside Hillsborough Castle after talks between Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and the main political parties last Monday
Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

DUP source rules out prospect of a deal before Christmas

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (centre), with deputy leader Gavin Robinson (left), Emma Little Pengelly, and Gordon Lyons, speak to the media outside Hillsborough Castle following talks with NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris. Picture date: Wednesday December 13, 2023. Photo: Jonathan McCambridge/PA Wire

Donaldson says ‘still work to be done’ in key NI negotiations

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has urged support for his Rwanda asylum plan. The Rwanda Bill is fatally defective because it fails to take the necessary steps to sweep away the protocol , writes Jamie Bryson. (Photo: James Manning/PA)

Letter: NI risks becoming an immigration hub due to protocol

Shoppers from the Republic have been visiting Northern Ireland supermarkets such as those at Sprucefield and purchasing products with Union Flag warnings before taking them back over the border

Letter: Windsor Framework is little short of a farce

A protest sign against EU trade restrictions on goods coming into NI from GB last year at the port of Larne. The Windsor Framework did not correct an “underlying mistake” in the Northern Ireland Protocol, a Westminster committee has heard.
Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

Windsor Framework did not correct ‘mistake’ in protocol, peers told

DUP Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson wrote a letter to the editor, criticising an editorial in the News Letter on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Photo: Presseye/Stephen Hamilton

TUV challenges Jeffrey after ‘letter to editor’ on Protocol

FSB Insurance Service (FSBIS) has announced a new partnership with Dickson & Co Insurance Brokers in Northern Ireland. Pictured are Roisin McAliskey, FSB development manager; Roger Pollen, head of FSB NI, David Perry, managing director, FSB Insurance Service, Martin McTague, FSB national chair, Gavin Mitchell, director, Dickson & Co Insurance Brokers, Alan Lowry, chair of FSB NI Policy Unit and Rachel Cleary, enterprise team, Dickson & Co Insurance Brokers

FSB Insurance Service launches new partnership to meet business insurance needs

Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Alex Maskey, welcomes the US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs Joseph P Kennedy III and Ambassador Jane Hartley to Parliament Buildings last night. They came to Parliament Buildings for an event in support of the US Senior Business Delegation’s economy focused visit to Northern Ireland. Photo Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.

Significant gaps still remain in trade border impasse talks – Donaldson

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