DUP anger as EU threatens legal retaliation on NI Protocol

East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson criticised Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly, who is lead author of a report on possible draft laws to penalise the UK if the British government pursues the bill aimed at overturning Union-threatening parts of the NI Protocol.

On Mr Kelly and the EU committee’s threat of retaliatory action, Mr Robinson said: “If Fine Gael politicians in Dublin or Brussels believe they can have power-sharing institutions without unionist support, then they are mistaken.

“We need the protocol replaced rather than some sham talking shop.”

Addressing the EU Parliament’s trade, foreign affairs and constitutional affairs committees yesterday, Mr Kelly said that if the UK took unilateral action to change the NI Protocol it would “directly contravene international law”.

The Fine Gael MEP urged the next prime minister to “come back to the table to progress workable solutions.”

But Mr Robinson said that while the DUP preferred a negotiated outcome “the EU has ignored the concerns of unionists” and it was Brussels which had been unwilling to compromise over the protocol.