DUP invoke words of Winston Churchill during special session on Brexit

She repeatedly said that the new trade accord reached between the Boris Johnson government and the EU this month needs more scrutiny, indicating that party’s policy advisors and lawyers are still coming their way through the vast 1,200-plus page document.

Whilst the nub of the deal is that there will be no quotas or tariffs on EU-UK trade on the vast bulk of goods, she said analysts will continue poring over the finer details “over the coming days and weeks”.

She said: “To paraphrase Winston Churchill, it is not the beginning of the end but, rather, the end of the beginning.

“We formally left the European Union on 31 January 2020 but the transition period will formally end at 11:00 pm on 31 December.

“The European Union (Future Relationship) Bill, which enables the United Kingdom Government to ratify and implement the agreement, was published yesterday and was introduced to Parliament today...

“As part of our consideration of the deal, we are mindful of the fact that Northern Ireland will operate in line with the protocol imposed upon Northern Ireland; a protocol brought about by the skewed view of the interpretation of the Belfast Agreement.

“We have consistently opposed the protocol and voted against it in the House of Commons. We warned the May and Johnson Governments about treading that path, but, sadly, they have decided to impose it on the people of Northern Ireland.”

The protocol repeatedly refers to “the commitment of the United Kingdom to protect North-South cooperation and its guarantee of avoiding a hard border, including any physical infrastructure or related checks and controls”.

The protocol gave a “guarantee of avoiding a hard border” on land in Ireland, and a “firm commitment to no customs and regulatory checks”.

But when it came to certain aspects of protecting the UK internal market, the language was more airy; instead of a “firm commitment” or “guarantee”, the protocol said only that was the signatories’ “aim” to avoid “controls at the ports and airports of Northern Ireland, to the extent possible in accordance with applicable legislation”.

The reality is that some goods entering NI from GB will have to be subject to some checks at ports.

In an allusion to the UUP, whose members have attacked the DUP for failing to kill off the protocol when it first emerged last October, Mrs Foster accused them of continuing to “peddle untruths” about the DUP having supported the protocol.

Another DUP member invoking the words of Churchill was Mervyn Storey, who quoted him as follows: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

He added: “We have heard in the Chamber today all the woes, all the ills, all the concerns and all the difficulties that will beset us as we leave the European Union, but let us remember that we do so not because there was a democratic deficit but because the United Kingdom voted so to do.”

Also referencing UK history, Caoimhe Archibald of Sinn Fein blamed Brexit on “narrow, English nationalist motives and a harking back to the halcyon days of an empire long gone”.

Read more on Brexit from this reporter:

Click here: Major UK retailer Dunelm halts home deliveries to NI sparking Brexit speculation

Click here: IN FULL: DUP spurn Brexit deal ‘on point of principle’ and will vote it down on Wednesday

Click here: GB-to-NI potato blockade ‘will hurt quality of Ulster chip shops’

Click here: Ian Paisley: Unionists need to drop wrist-slashing pessimism over Brexit

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