Change is needed to Belfast Agreement, says Sir Jeffrey Donaldson

The Democratic Unionist Party leader said safeguards for the Union contained within the Belfast Agreement as “sold to unionists in 1998” are no longer there.

Sir Jeffrey said last week’s Court of Appeal judgement in Belfast on the Northern Ireland Protocol ruled that the principle of consent contained within the Agreement, far from preserving the Province’s place within the UK, only applies to a “final transfer of sovereignty”.

He described judgment in the case - taken by TUV leader Jim Allister, former MEP Ben Habib and Baroness Hoey - as a “wake-up call” for those who believed the Belfast Agreement gave unionists a cast-iron constitutional guarantee.

Writing for the online magazine, “UnionistVoice”, Sir Jeffrey claimed the Court of Appeal ruling was “in direct contrast with the understanding of Lord Trimble” who said the community he represented had accepted unpalatable compromises because he had persuaded unionists back in 1998 that their place in the UK was safeguarded by the Agreement.

The DUP leader said the Agreement in its current form had “not operated to protect Northern Ireland from having huge swathes of our laws made by the European Union, with no democratic input whatsoever from the people of Northern Ireland”.

Earlier this week, a report by a House of Lords scrutiny committee on the Protocol found that the Province is now governed by more than 300 EU laws as a result of the post-Brexit deal.

Sir Jeffrey said:”But it is not enough for unionists simply to wring our hands and to complain. We need to pursue a dual strategy to prevent the salami slicing of our constitutional position.

“We need legislative change which is a real and meaningful protection for the Union and secondly, we must work to ensure that we can sustain majority support for our position.”

On a new proposed constitutional guarantee in the act enshrining the consent principle in the Belfast Agreement, Sir Jeffrey said: “In addition to the existing provision at Section 1(1) of the Northern Ireland Act of 1998, I would suggest an additional provision be considered. For example, ‘Any’ (post 1998) change to Northern Ireland’s constitutional status within the United Kingdom should require the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland voting in a poll held for that purpose or should be subject to a cross-community vote of the Northern Ireland Assembly.”

He said that after the election on May 5 “as a way of providing greater confidence to the people of Northern Ireland in light of recent events I will be pushing for the government to take forward such an amendment.”

The DUP leader however urged unionists to think strategically about how unionism can continue to secure majority support for the Union.

“Our ultimate protection will not be found in constitutions but in the will of the people of Northern Ireland. That is why we must move Northern Ireland in the right direction and in a way that can continue to command widespread support.”

Sir Jeffrey’s call for a major change to the Belfast Agreement is in sharp contrast to the stance of Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie. In Friday’s News Letter, Mr Beattie warned against unionists re-igniting old battles against the Agreement in the current anti-Protocol campaign.

Meanwhile the Secretary of State Brandon Lewis will face questions on the Protocol from the NI Affairs Committee at Westminster on Monday.