DUP hits back at 'EU aggression' as it threatens sanctions over Northern Ireland Protocol Bill

The DUP Upper Bann MLA has said “it is crucial that the Government hold their nerve in the face of this aggression”.

She was reacting to the EU’s announcement of “sanctions” in the event that the UK moves to unilaterally short-circuit the Protocol via the Protocol Bill.

She said: “European Union should focus on replacing the Northern Ireland Protocol with arrangements that unionists and nationalists can support rather than brandishing threats of sanction.

“For weeks we have been told the mood music is good and that talks have been constructive.

"Yet the EU seems to be focused on punishing the UK for having the audacity to protect the integrity of its internal market.

"The hypocrisy is staggering. Let’s not forget that it was the EU that moved to trigger Article 16 to stop the supply of vaccines during the pandemic.

“Rather than using the threat of sanctions as a stick to beat the Government, the EU need to get on with agreeing alternative arrangements that can command the support of both unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland.”

The Protocol Bill has been percolating through Parliament ever since it was introduced in mid-July.

It is currently in its “report stage” in the House of Lords (meaning peers are continuing to mull it over before passing it back to the Commons), but faces a still battle before becoming law, with both Labour MPs and many Tories opposing it.

The bill is filled with “Henry VIII clauses” which, in simple terms, means that, alone, the bill by itself does nothing – it merely gives ministers the ability to do something at a later date.

Specifically, the bill will let ministers “amend the operation of the Protocol”, order that it “cease to have effect in the UK”, and let them “make new law in connection with the Northern Ireland Protocol”.

The UK government has said it would prefer not to do this, and to instead agree some new arrangements with the EU.

But EU negotiator Maros Sefcovic has said “renegotiation is not an option”.

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