Donaldson keen to keep market access

Asked if he would “accept Northern Ireland being aligned to the EU single market?” the DUP leader told the BBC’s ‘Good Morning Ulster’ programme: “We want to have access to the EU single market, but fundamentally our biggest market is Great Britain, we purchase four times more goods from Great Britain than the whole of the European Union, we sell far more of our goods to Great Britain than all of the European Union, and all of its member states, so the problem at the moment is the Irish Sea border.

“It is inhibiting our ability to trade with our biggest market and that needs to be dealt with.”

Sir Jeffrey added: “Of course I want to have continuing access to the EU single market, but that does not require the Irish Sea border to be in place to prevent our companies, our businesses and our consumers having full access to the UK internal market.”

On ‘The Nolan Show’ immediately afterwards, Baroness Kate Hoey was asked if she understood how Northern Ireland could continue to have access to the EU single market withou the NI Protocol.

“I think you are slightly over-reacting to what Sir Jeffrey said,” Baroness Hoey said.

She added: “We will want to be back trading in exactly the same trading terms as the rest of the United Kingdom.”