DUP leader Arlene Foster talks tough ahead of meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson over Northern Ireland Protocol

DUP leader Arlene Foster has urged unionists to “stand together and free Northern Ireland from the Protocol” ahead of a meeting with the Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the morning.

A top DUP delegation led by party leader Arlene Foster is to meet with Mr Johnson to register opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mrs Foster will be joined by Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds and Westminster Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mrs Foster said: “This Prime Minister promised unfettered access and now must deliver. The societal and economic disruption caused directly by the Protocol cannot be ignored. That’s why I have applied for an e-petition from Parliament so people throughout the UK can register their opposition to the Protocol in a democratic manner.”

The meeting comes after threats against workers manning customs checks at Larne Port resulted in council and Department of Agriculture staff being withdrawn for their own safety.

While there had been concerns that threatening graffiti in the Larne area had been linked to loyalist paramilitaries, the PSNI said today that they did not believe that was the case.

Mrs Foster’s statement came hours after the release of the latest Lucidtalk poll figures, which showed that support for the DUP has ebbed significantly since 2017’s assembly election. Many DUP voters appear to have migrated to the TUV.

Speaking ahead of her meeting, Mrs Foster said that Northern Ireland “needs actions” from the Prime Minister.

“We want him to use all the powers at his disposal to help the people of Northern Ireland and our businesses in Northern Ireland. We do welcome the recognition from Michael Gove in Parliament yesterday that these are not ‘teething problems’ and that more action is needed.

“I also welcome the Prime Minister’s comments last evening that ‘NI’s place in the UK will be protected and strengthened’ but we now need action to back that up, particularly given the harm the Protocol is doing to our place in the internal market of the UK.”

She said that the Protocol was “foolishly foisted” on Northern Ireland despite the fact that not a single unionist party supported it.

“As unionists, we must stand together and free Northern Ireland from the Protocol.”

She added: “The Prime Minister needs to address the growing crisis in Northern Ireland and recognise that the opposition to the Protocol is widespread. From families struggling to get their Amazon parcels, to manufactures struggling to get their supplies. The Pharma sector have no clarity on what will happen medicines at the end of the grace period and our farmers are buried in paperwork trying to move their own tractor from one part of the UK to another.”

The DUP has worked to address disruption and succeeded with steel and second hand cars butt last Friday was a “gamechanger” she said, speaking of the EU’s decision to suspend the Protocol in a dispute with the EU over Covid-19 vaccination supplies.

“Whilst our Government was treading water in the face of real problems for UK citizens, the EU took unilateral action over a potential problem. We will be stepping up the campaign to free us from the Protocol. We will not do anything that negatively impacts NI at this time but it will not be the normal business as usual in our NS relationships relating to any business flowing from the protocol.”

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