DUP leader tells Nancy Pelosi: ‘Protocol is undermining Belfast Agreement’

Mrs Pelosi had said the UK Government’s suggestion it could act unilaterally to change the post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland was deeply concerning.

Sir Jeffrey told the BBC: “Nancy Pelosi states that the reason she is concerned is because the Good Friday Agreement might be undermined, but the protocol is undermining the agreement. That is absolutely evident.

“The protocol has changed some of the key principles of the Belfast Agreement and it has made it impossible to have powersharing on the basis of consensus because not a single unionist MLA elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the recent elections supports that protocol.

“If Nancy Pelosi wants to see the agreement protected then she needs to recognise that it is the protocol that is harming and undermining the agreement and that is why we need to deal with it.

“We will not re-enter the political institutions in full until we see decisive action taken on the protocol, that is the mandate I sought from the people of Northern Ireland and on the strength of the votes that we received we have made clear to the Government that decisive action is required.”